Domination
by Borath
Summary: The sequel to 'Submission'. Yami suffers torture and abuse, both physical and mental, and the malicious intents of those around doesn't help. The Game King may well destroy himself. Warnings for graphic violence. Thanks to Ayod & Pachelbel for beta work
1. Chapter 1

Domination By Borath 

R

Non-Yaoi

It's approximately six months after Yami was 'assaulted' by Kresha and he still struggles to maintain his mental stability.  But a chain of events quickly begins which makes him believe that the Universe has set out to destroy him.   

It is important that you have read 'Submission' before you start this fic, which is, coincidently, the sequel.  The rating for that fiction is probably borderline but no one has complained as of yet so feel free to read it unless you are overly sensitive.

I deal with emotions mostly but it is going to get pretty graphic and intense in later chapters, hence me raising the rating.  For this chapter and the next few PG-13 should suffice, but the language will get courser and the events more brutal as time goes on.  This fiction will likely never qualify as an NC-17, but I do not want it to be stripped off the site or offend young readers, so I take these precautions.  I also learned the first time as 'Submission' was removed for being an NC-17.

If you are overly sensitive or are going to attempt to take this piece off the site, then please hit 'back' now and save us both some trouble.  Otherwise, welcome to 'Domination' and I hope you find this piece to be better than its predecessor.  I strive to improve so in all respects the sequel should be better than the prequel.

This fiction is taxing on both my time and mind so updates will not be as regular as I would like them to be.  I make each chapter at least 7 pages long so as to give a significant amount of text to read and to, hopefully, capture and maintain your interest. My special thanks go to the reviewers of this piece and of 'Submission', who inspired me to make a continuation.  But high praise goes to Ayod Botla who has become my personal angel over the last few months.  Beta-reader, friend, resource centre and idea-rebounder, her feedback has been invaluable and this fic would likely not exist if it were not for her involvement.  A fellow fanfiction writer on ff.net, she has helped me to raise the standard of this piece to something that I did not think was possible.  My thanks to her once again. **** Chapter 1 

He bolted awake with a startled shout, all consuming darkness covering both himself and his surroundings like a thick blanket.  The corners of his eyes were prickling and his lungs felt like someone had filled them with ice before pouring something molten into them.  Blinking itself was a deadly action as the scenes replayed themselves still, the waking world doing nothing to ease him.  Muscles pumped full of adrenalin trembled and urged him to move, to escape the attacker that stalked him in the dreamscape.  

For once not giving a damn about whether his motions awoke Yugi or not, which in the back of his mind where rational thought remained he knew he had, Yami untangled himself from everything that seemed to suddenly cover him and abandoned the tent.   

Hissing when the blisteringly cold night air chilled at his sweat-slicked skin, he heard nothing but his own ragged breathing as he sought to put as much distance between the others and himself.  Making his way to the inviting darkness of the trees a few metres ahead of him, he restricted himself to staying on the outskirts of the gloom and sank against a thick trunk, knees weak and eyes wide as he struggled to regain control.  

Eyes closed as he tried to calm his body and mind, he only sensed Yugi's cautious approach through the Puzzle, his sixth sense picking up on the other teen's presence on a level that was deeper than sound and sight.  Yugi was always careful immediately after a nightmare; a few rather negative responses to a touch or word that came too early had taught him tact.

"You haven't been this bad in a while," his Hikari stated softly as he came around the tree and knelt in the ground a few feet in front of his Dark.  "Are you alright?"

Crimson eyes blinked as he seemingly took in his surroundings for the first time, an amused snort escaping him when he saw that Yugi was dirtying his favourite blue pyjamas.  "I'm fine.  You should get back to bed."

"I wanted to make sure you were alright.  You going to come back with me?"  The question was posed with a little fear in his tone; he didn't want his yami to stay out for the rest of the night alone, in the woods.

Yami answered with a question of his own.  "Are the others awake?"

Yugi fell unusually quiet for a few seconds before answering softly.  "No.  No, they're all asleep.  I'm the only one who knows you're out here."

The Dark of the pair sighed softly before using the trunk behind him to shove himself up onto his feet.  "Then I shall return with you."

The walk back to the tent took longer than necessary, a silence that was slightly uncomfortable hanging in the air between them that both were grateful to have broken by the rustling of blankets and sleeping bags when they re-entered the tent and settled down again.  From the way Yami remained sitting, his hands resting in his lap, it was obvious that he had no false hopes of getting any more sleep tonight.

Eyes unconsciously drifting to the bite-scar on the other's shoulder, Yugi knotted his hands in his own blanket uncomfortably before daring to ask his next question.  It was not Yami's reaction that he feared; it was the response that might come in answer to the question that he bitterly dreaded.

"What brought it on tonight?"

It had become a subconscious sign that Yami probably wasn't aware of himself, one that meant that he felt uncomfortable, afraid or threatened.  Only Joey and Yugi actually knew what he was thinking or feeling when a hand went to the scar on the soft flesh at the juncture between shoulder and neck, fingers working into the skin firmly as the muscles twitched.

"I don't know.  It was...  More intense than the last few have been.  Dreams aren't always just dreams, and I'm beginning to wonder if this is some kind of an omen.  I don't know, I probably sound ridiculous saying that out loud," he shrugged with a small smile tugging at his lips, his hands dropping to his lap before his eyes joined them.  

"Maybe it's because of the new Duelling Championship.  We're going to have to submit tomorrow, maybe that brought it on," Yugi suggested quietly, wracking his mind for a possible reason for his Dark to have a nightmare so terrifying that it had caused him to bolt in the middle of the night.

Yami stared at his hands in his lap in silence as his mind turned that over in his mind.  He had begun toying with his deck in his Soul Room as soon as his mind was equipped enough to handle it but he had found that the damage done to him by Kresha so many months ago was deeper than he had thought it could be.

He had taken pride and a certain degree of comfort in his title as 'Game King'.  The title protected him to an extent; if someone he cared about was in trouble, he could duel them or challenge them at their own game, win and walk away with no-one getting hurt.  But after not being able to duel Kresha and having to do something much worse to ensure his Hikari's safety, he was beginning to see how vulnerable he really was, title or not.

'What does it matter if I'm the best player in the world at a game of cards if I can't even play the game of life?'

This seed of doubt had slowly grown to the degree that he stopped having faith in his own abilities, and as a result his deck had stopped obeying him.  His doubts had caused him to lose faith in the Heart of the Cards so his deck often chose to ignore him.  His title had become worthless.

This also left him in a bad position when it came to Yugi.  His purpose for existing in this time was to guide and protect him.  If he could not battle for his safety, something that he had only ever done through duelling for him, how could he keep him safe?  A Duelling Tournament was unsafe at the moment; he felt frail enough internally to know that that a quick defeat could destroy what little he had left in his spirit.

Yami worked hard to preserve an image of normalcy, hiding the despair the buffeted against his Soul Room walls like waves.  Yugi had an idea of his true state but was mostly ignorant and Joey was still as perceptive as ever.  Bakura…  Yami had no idea where he stood with the platinum-haired thief at the moment, but he had a slightly uncomfortable feeling in his gut that he would be needing his help to survive the next few days if the nightmares where to keep coming.

"Yami?" Yugi prompted at having his querying statement unanswered.  Snapping out of his self-indulged musings, Yami bit the inside of his lip in a moment of hesitation before answering in a firm voice, his tone leaving no room for argument. 

"I'm not entering the competition Aibou."

Eye wide with surprise, Yugi frowned a little before asking, "Why?  You're always eager to show your skills."

Yami opened his mouth for a second before closing it again and lowering his head slightly.  "I don't think I can.  I won't stop you from entering, Little Light, but I do not wish to be involved."

Nodding a little as he accepted the answer, Yugi parted his lips with another question on his tongue before falling silent, actually seeing how weary and distressed Yami was.  "I won't enter without you so I won't enter either.  It's all right.  I can keep up with school for once!"

Yami made a slight sound of mirth, a deep noise rumbling from his chest and throat.  His eyes were still lowered as a torrent of thoughts and feelings wrestled for domination in his being.  Guilt was winning out.  Guilt that he was too weak enough in spirit to insist that he not duel, and as a result keep Yugi away from the one thing he truly excelled at.

"Are you going to be alright awake on your own?" Yugi asked softly, genuinely, not wanting to go back to sleep when the other half of his soul may have needed his presence and likely comfort.

Yami shook his head smiling warmly now; touched by his Hikari's concern despite the restriction he had just put on him.  "No, you need to get a few more hours sleep.  I may read until I'm tired and then see if I can sleep peacefully as well."

That was an outright lie and he knew it.  He wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, not now, not when the memories that his mind had been working so hard on burying had been wrenched back up to the forefront of his mind.  It was hard to resist the urge to go outside and stalk through the trees for a few hours, maybe climb a few and take a look around at the peace in the world that he was being deprived of.

Maybe he could go to Ryou's tent and ask if Bakura felt up to a scrap at this time?

Likely not.  He'd stare at the tents' walls listening to his Aibou's breathing, methodical and soothing, until his mind got bored and he succumbed to sleep.  If he was lucky that was.  

Yugi had settled back down now, violet eyes open to barely noticeable slits as he monitored his yami before they rolled and he slipped back into dreaming.  Yami made a point of remaining cool and composed whilst he was being watched under that intense gaze, waiting until he was sure that he was entirely alone before bringing his knees to his chin and clamping his eyes shut against the pain and the memories.  

It was going to be a long night.

****

Morning was painful to say the least.  Awake all night, Yami was positive that the whites of his eyes were now the same colour as the crimson rings about his pupils.  They itched and burned continuously as his head throbbed from sleep deprivation.

He had forgotten how bad insomnia was, and adding to that equation stress and misery, he was in for Hell over the next few days.  And a bloody camping trip wasn't the place for a breakdown so he needed to keep all of this bottled up until he and Yugi got home and he could talk it all through, something that he had promised to start doing when something was bothering him.

Everyone was swimming now save for himself.  His muscles didn't savour the idea of forcing limbs to hold his head above the surface and his mind didn't like the idea of being as physically cold on the outside as he felt on the inside.  Instead he sat on the pier with his feet barely skimming the cool surface, ripples bringing the water up to meet his toes when someone made a particularly big splash in the centre of the pond.

He had been thinking all morning, trying to think of what he could do to maintain his sanity until the end of this trip.  He had to stay for Yugi's sake; he wasn't entering the tournament because of him so he couldn't force him to cut the trip short.  It had been planned for months and he would be damned if he allowed his own failings to ruin it for everyone else.  Sighing in frustration as his mind then returned to where it had been an hour ago, he chose to close his tired eyes for a few moments.

A ripple of cold water up against the soul of his foot indicating that someone had approached him was his only warning before they grabbed him by the ankles and jerked him down into the pond.  

Fear.  Blinding.  Surrounded by murky water so that everything was blurred and his gasp of surprise meant that there wasn't enough air in his lungs to sustain him for long.  The grip on his ankles had released at the very least, but the hands had roved up him as the other person moved, fingers curling about his upper arms firmly.

Yami panicked outright and jerked against the other's touch violently, inadvertently inhaling and instantly beginning to choke.  Instinctual gasps made it worse and his vision began to speckle at the edges.  The hands released him when strength left his muscles and he felt himself beginning to drift with the water.  Vision going black entirely now, he thought nor felt anything before finally falling into that blissful void.

****

Something heavy was on his chest and his throat felt awful when the black fog finally receded from his mind.  Feeling the pressure press down violently against his sore ribs, Yami instantly felt a swell run up through his throat and found himself choking on water again.  Coughs wracked his form and he felt himself being turned gently onto his side, a hand on his hip and shoulder holding him in place as he attempted to get a reasonable breath into his lungs.

//Yami ?!  Are you alright?//

Wincing as Yugi's voice drummed around his skull, Yami coughed in response and shuddered against the hand that started running up and down his spine methodically.  Soon the spots of red left his eyes and he didn't feel light-headed anymore, sending a wave of reassurance back to his Aibou before cracking his stinging eyes open.

Someone murmured something and he was moved back onto his back, his head lolling limply with the action as his muscles refused to operate with the minimal amount of oxygen they currently possessed.  Yami discovered that it had been Bakura who had been rubbing his spine and holding him still whilst he brought up most of the lake, Joey sitting behind the pale teen and Yugi standing behind them both looking concerned.  

"Yami, I'm so sorry for that.  I didn't think you'd…  It was a joke," Honda was saying earnestly, apologizing profusely for his earlier actions.  Yami was not quite in the frame of mind to be able to forgive him or indeed think coherently at all just yet.

A chill settling over his skin Yami shivered slightly but froze when he felt a slight touch on his right forearm.  Eyes flickering down he nearly retched when he saw that someone had stripped him of his jacket at some point, slender fingers touching the angry scar running up the length of the soft flesh of his forearm.  Following the arm up, he met Anzu's eyes and swallowed heavily.

She was staring at him with a mixture of confusion and concern, utterly bewildered by what she was seeing.  Glancing over her shoulder Yami groaned internally when he saw Honda following her stare down before meeting his eyes.  

Clenching his hands into fists, he demanded that screaming muscles move him to sit up before he rose to unsteady feet.  His head swam and his vision dipped around him nearly causing him to collapse back to the ground again.  An arm around his waist kept him upright though and Yami looked to the owner to thank Joey.

Brows darting into his hairline when he saw that Bakura had beaten the blond to it this time, Yami nodded as much as his head would allow all the same.  Bakura nodded back stiffly before glaring at Anzu and Honda, bending down and collecting Yami against his chest.  Weak as he was, Yami still stiffened against the other, muscles trembling as they were held tight too soon after being deprived of oxygen.

"Wait!  Bakura!  You can't move him!  He nearly died for God's sake!" Anzu exclaimed loudly as she moved in front of them, standing with her hands firmly placed on her hips.  Honda was at her side in an instant agreeing loudly.  

Joey, Yugi and Ryou had obviously noticed the exchange between the two spirits and had wisely stayed back, allowing whatever was happening to happen.  But when they saw the verbal assault that Bakura was about to receive they quickly moved to his side.

"It's alright Anzu; Bakura's just going to take him back into the tent.  Yami needs to stay warm," Yugi assured, a cold feeling in his gut as he saw her eyes flickering back to his scarred forearms again.  Blue eyes met violet in a seeking gaze but he only shook his head firmly.  He knew how important it was to Yami to keep his previous actions a secret but that seemed to have gotten harder now that they had seen for the first time.

"I'll go with him and make sure he has enough blankets," Honda offered although it was apparent that he really wanted to question Yami about the scars.  His eyes, although he was attempting some restraint, kept flickering to them as if of their own will.

"I can take care of the Pharaoh perfectly well.  I don't need you mortals interfering," Bakura sneered before stepping around the pair and continuing at a brisk pace towards the tents.  Yami brought a hand up to clench on the thief's shoulder as the urge to retch swelled through him again, his mind finally catching up with what had happened.

He sounds of arguing between Anzu and Honda against the other teens soon faded away and Bakura crouched into the tent that he and Ryou shared, laying Yami down on one of the sleeping mats carefully before turning his back on him and rummaging around for blankets.

"What happened?" Yami croaked when Bakura had produced a blanket, the soft material draping over his body as the spirit tucked it around him with a surprising amount of care.

"Honda acting like a twit as usual.  Thought it would be funny to yank you under water; he didn't count on you trying to breath it.  You weren't breathing when we got you out, scared the Hell out of us," Bakura replied gruffly as he rolled up a discarded jumped and slid it beneath Yami's head.

"We had to get your jacket off you to get your heart going.  Your Puzzle didn't seem to be doing a very good job of keeping you alive.  It might've done but it was knee-jerk to make your lips any other colour than blue."

"They saw then," Yami said flatly, staring at the material ceiling and suddenly feeling very tired.

Sitting on his heels now Bakura remained quiet for a few moments before nodding.  It was a curious relationship between them; they would insult and attack each other at any given chance but they would also talk about things so secret and dark that they were bonding on some level.  

Yami knew that neither Joey nor Yugi could hear most of what he said to Bakura.  Bakura just seemed to have the mentality to deal with it.  The discussion between them concerning Yami's attempt at suicide was the only one to have taken place at all.  Bakura was the only one who knew how badly he had wanted to die and he was the only one who had been able to help him in the way that he had needed.

"We're going to have to sort this out.  You never really recovered and we both know that you never will, not completely, but you're slipping again."

Yami nodded slightly, still not looking at the other.  "I know."

"Some self-defence lessons would make you feel more secure in yourself.  Meditation's worth a try," Bakura suggested with a slight shrug.  He felt empathy for the other teen and the fact that they used to be enemies did not deter him in the slightest from wanting to help.  He was the only one who had witnessed what Yami had gone through, had felt what Yami had through the trapped memories in the Puzzle, and as a result felt driven to help him in any way possible.

Yami snorted slightly with mirth at the latter suggestion.  "You know how to meditate?"

Glowering at him, Bakura's reply was somewhat testy.  "Yes.  I didn't have much else to do in that damn Ring.  If I hadn't I would have gone as insane as Malik."

"I didn't meditate and I'm not insane," Yami countered reasonably, strangely finding that he was quite enjoying this.

"Yeah, well you were perfecting your gaming skills weren't you?  Game King and all that crap."

Pained, Yami closed his eyes against that and the silence that hung between them was almost palatable.  Understanding took a few moments to dawn but when it finally came Bakura sighed heavily and placed a firm hand on Yami's shoulder.

"One thing at a time.  First we deal with you staying sane for us then we can move onto faith.  I'm not an expert but it'll have to do."

Inhaling as if to steel his resolve, Yami nodded his assent and finally met Bakura's gaze.  "Thank you." 

"Don't mention it.  Ever.  To anyone.  I'd hate for them to know that I'm going soft."

"And I'd hate for them to know that I'm weak," came the bitter reply.

Bakura raised a slender brow and replied coolly, "We're at a stalemate then, wouldn't you say?"

"Fantastic."

"I agree.  Utterly delightful.  Now, sleep and we can talk in a few hours.  I'll keep the vultures away from you when they get by the Mutt, your Hikari and my personal twerp."

****

Please review and tell me your thoughts.  I do not need ideas as I have over half of this series planned in intricate detail, but feel free to drop suggestions or other thoughts.  I you feel a tremendous desire to flame me, then please do so but give evidence and just cause.  Thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

Domination: Chapter 2

Yami didn't know how it had happened but he thanked every deity that had ever graced the Heavens that Anzu and Honda didn't so much as glance at him questioningly when he later awoke.  Yugi, Ryou and Joey had obviously said something to keep them quiet, what exactly that had been entirely unknown by Yami which left him extremely uncomfortable as a result.  He trusted them not to tell them what had happened to lead to him inflicting so much damage unto himself but there was still an irrational niggling doubt in the back of his mind.  

He was surprised that he had maintained his resolve to go to the registration office after the events of the day.  Joey was the only one actually entering now that Yugi had decided to stay out of the tournament with him, and they had all agreed to go beforehand for moral support before returning to the campsite.  It was decided that they would all go their separate ways afterwards now, his near-death experience effectively ruining the mood.  That and Honda and Anzu were still highly suspicious about his scars.  They didn't show it but he could sense it, see it in their eyes when they looked at him.

Due to the fact that Honda had nearly inadvertently killed Yami, or so he and Anzu thought because they didn't know about all the Puzzle's properties, there had been a universal decision to cut the camping trip short and go home after seeing the registrations for the Duelling Tournament tomorrow rather than returning to the site.  Joey wanted to 'check out the competition' as he had put it, and as they wished to remain together for as long as possible before they all went home they were all going to the registration office. 

Greatly unsettled, Yami had only managed a few fitful hours of sleep that night before waking in another cold sweat, murky waters and choked breaths adding to the elements of his nightmares.  He had been surprised to find that Bakura was sat with him as well as Yugi when he finally wrenched himself from the dreamscape's grip, the teen and the spirit leaving him his space to collect himself before Bakura had turned his eyes to Yugi and nodded slightly.

Flashing his Dark a reassuring smile, Yugi squeezed his hand firmly before standing on cramping legs and moved outside the tent, zipping the door shut behind him.  His silhouette against the wall, cast by the flickering fire that had been built outside, signalled his movement towards the fire leaving Yami and Bakura entirely alone.

Frowning a little, Yami looked to the Ring's spirit curiously and was met with a level stare.  "We agreed that you need to be put into a better shape before tomorrow.  I thought we would try meditation now."

Ruffled by the fact that help to aid his debateable mental state was practically being forced onto him, Yami did nothing more than narrow his sharp eyes slightly.  He hated being weak, hated knowing that a wrong word or motion could break his already fragile state and he hated that he was obviously hiding these facts very badly from those around him.  Even Anzu and Honda knew that something had transpired now whereas before they had been the least informed out of all of them, including Kaiba.

Yami shuddered internally at that.  He had hated that his most vicious opponent in the duelling arena had been one of the first to find him when he had made a damn-good attempt to take his life.  It haunted him still, remembered seeing those steely eyes fix on his and reassess him, taking his newfound weakness and stupidity into account.  Thankfully he had not seen or heard from the billionaire since that eventful day, one of the reasons that he was so worried about tomorrow. 

There was a new Duelling Tournament so logically Kaiba would be participating, which meant that he would be at the registration office.  Yami was sure that no amount of help or guidance that he received from Bakura tonight would allow him to face the CEO tomorrow.  

He could picture the scenarios as if they were a sharp memories or if he were actually witnessing them happening, his mind darting through the possibilities no matter how much he willed, begged it not to.  A cold, cruel, mocking laugh from Kaiba would be the most likely reaction.  There was a long list of comments that he could make, references to his suicide attempt and the infiltration of his body featuring in them.  He could see those cold eyes boring into his, ensuring that the cruel words punctured his spirit to their greatest effect.

Shaking his head to clear the images, Yami watched with partial interest as the Ring glowed and Bakura's eyes narrowed, his magic gathering and throbbing in the air as he prepared for the transport.  Casting his mind to other things before it could work return into the frightening and depressing groove he had just made, Yami clenched his fists and closed his eyes in preparation for the shift from this dimension to the Shadow Realm.

Yami made a point not to show any sign of discomfort or surprise when he felt his body dissolve and remerge in the Shadow Realm.  Oddly enough this was the only place where he found the darkness safe.  The monsters ignored him and no mortal could get here without outside interference.  He was safe here.

Bakura had risen to his feet on what could be identified as the ground, although in this place the joint between wall and floor could never be distinguished.  It was entirely plausible that this Realm was spherical with no walls to speak of, a never-ending place of darkness and power.

Rising to his feet slowly from where he had been sat on the ground, Yami resisted the urge to create his usual shield across his chest and instead stood before the other with his arms at his sides, waiting patiently for him to give any indication as to what was going to follow.  Bakura's ideas of help where nothing short of creative, ranging from simple arguing to outright combat, but all were surprisingly affective.  On a level that he would never admit to possessing, Yami felt a pain that Bakura knew how to cope with such feelings so well.

It was no great surprise when Bakura came at him without warning with a raised fist, landing a good blow on his jaw before he had the chance to retaliate.  The fight was short-lived compared to some of their scraps, both combatants tangled among each other on their knees as heavy, simulated breathing and flares of pain decided that it was time to stop.

Releasing him, Bakura then surprised Yami by sitting back and arranging himself to sit on his heels with his hands on his lap, his head dipped and shoulders searching for a comfortable position to be held in before they too fell still.  Sensing that Yami was staring rather than copying, the thief cracked narrow eyes open and looked up at the former Pharaoh pointedly, smirking when Yami sighed slightly and imitated his position.

Once both were settled with their eyes closed, Bakura opened his mouth to speak.  Yami found that the usual harsh tones of his voice were oddly soothing and unobtrusive when spoken in this manner, the words flowing into each other but his voice still commanding a certain degree of obedience.

"You feel pain.  It's in your jaw where I hit you and in your ribs where I kicked you.  It's white whereas you are black.  Hot and searing where you feel dead and cold.  A comfort and a curse."

Yami nodded slightly without knowing that he had done so, immersed in the spirit's words and focussing on the flares of pain resonating through his body, the injuries inflicted moments ago by the other.  He knew better than most how true those latter words were.  Pain could be indeed be a comfort, but when it wrested control away it rapidly became one of the worst kinds of curses.

"The pain in your spirit is black where you are black and cold where you are cold.  This means that it's hard to find and harder to heal.  White pain you cope with by ignoring with your mind, but black pain must be sought out to be treated.

"You're going to practice seeking now.  Focus on the pain in your jaw, see it as white and feel yourself inside it.  The pain will engulf you and throb at every point on your body, but if you concentrate it will diminish and fade.  In this way your mind has accepted that there is damage and you have convinced the nerves in your jaw to stop sending the signal.  Acceptance.  Accept the problem and the solution will come."

Those were not easy words to follow and it took many minutes before Yami could allow the pain in his jaw to 'engulf' him.  He did not feel surprise at Bakura's perception when he did indeed identify the pain as white, everything seeming to have numbed as his mind fixated on it.  Throbbing and flaring, after a few minutes of focussing intently the pain receded and Yami jerked slightly when he found himself 'back' in his body.

Eyes adjusting slowly to the all-consuming blackness surrounding them, he caught the other's gaze and found it to be far too smug for his liking.  Smiling at him wryly and shaking his head slightly, Yami adjusted his position slightly before glancing around himself questioningly.  "Are we done?"

"Do you think this was enough?" Bakura asked with a slightly incredulous tone.  They had only been in here for half an hour; there was no possible way that that had been of any significant help.

Sighing and bringing a hand up to his eyes that, even in his metaphysical form, burned and stung, Yami eased himself into a standing position.  "I'm tired Bakura.  I don't know how much more I can take tonight."

"So how do you think you're going to be able to handle tomorrow?" came the challenging response, a hint of a sneer in the words.

"I'll deal with it.  I just want to sleep now," Yami replied with a sterner tone.  It was one thing to grudgingly receive help but another to have it forced when the levels were deemed unacceptable.

Bakura gave him a long, measuring gaze before nodding his agreement.  He knew that he needed to do more to help the former Pharaoh through the following day but there was no need to push.  If he forced the issue he would just hinder rather than help.  Yami would come to him if he needed his help badly enough but until then he promised himself to watch over the other spirit like a hawk.  Tomorrow was going to be difficult for him and if someone so much as raised their voice to him, then they would have a severely pissed-off tomb raider to deal with.

Yami used his own magic to bring them back to the physical world, preferring to control his spirit's movement this time.  It had been a while since he'd last done that though and the drain left him feeling a little light-headed.  Bakura glanced his pale form over once before tipping his head slightly and stepping back outside the tent.

After waiting for the lean shadow to shrink to the extent that Yami knew that Bakura was out of earshot, he buried his hands in his tri-coloured hair and took in a hissing breath between his teeth.  His head was pounding now from the events of the day and he wanted nothing more than to sleep and regain some of his strength.  

Hearing voices outside around the fire, light laughter and mirthful tones, Yami breathed a sigh of relief that no one was going to bother him tonight.  It was a bitter thought; a twinge of jealously pricking at his heart before being shoved aside.  Distracted with their own lives, the others would leave him to battle his demons alone, which was exactly what he wanted.  

Stepping off of the blanket he had materialised on, Yami sank to his knees before curling up on his side.  His head was pounding too viciously to allow him the respite of his Soul Room and he didn't have the energy to ask Yugi for help.  His pride wouldn't allow for that anyway.  Flicking the blanket out until it lay reasonably flat over his form, Yami buried his head into his arms and succumbing to sleep, praying that the demons of his dreams would let him lie for just this night.

****

"I can't do this Yuug.  I don't wanna enter another tournament without you by my side."

For the unknown time that morning Yami sighed to himself internally.  The group had been immensely surprised when Yugi had told them that he wasn't going to submit for the duelling tournament, and now it seemed that Yugi's guilt over his weakness was preventing Joey from participating too.

"But Joey!  You got all the way to the finals last time!  You don't need me to enter with you and I think the other duellists would have one hell of a time trying to beat you!"

"Ya really think so?"

"I know so Joey."

Shaking his head a little from his perch on the windowsill, once again amazed by the strength of his Light's spirit, Yami rose to his feet and made his way through the small crowd of people to get outside of the registration area.  The queue had shortened significantly whilst they were there and Joey was now close to the front of the line, waiting to sign his name and details down in the large red binder that the women at the desk held.

Bakura was stood off to the side with Ryou and Yami could feel the other spirit's cool gaze on the back of his neck, a feeling that he had been having all morning.  When he had looked to the tomb raider questioningly when it had first started, Bakura hadn't even tried to disguise his monitoring.  Yami hated that.  Hated the fact that those around him felt that he needed to be watched, needed to be protected now that he was fragile.  For his part Yami ignored him and kept his face composed, but inside his spirit was trembling.

He wasn't feeling as bad as before but it was still too crowded in here for Yami's liking, the sheer number of people around him seemingly pressing against him from all sides like a weight, uncomfortable and disturbing.   Mercifully he had not seen any sign of Kaiba all morning, a fact that he was immensely thankful for with every passing moment.  His nightmare had been different last night, obviously stemming from his anxiety of meeting the other again.  Seeing Kaiba above him from where he led in a cooling pool of crimson, his body paralysed as the taller teen sneered down at him; it was little wonder he had been trembling most of the morning.

A few metres away from the door, Yami could almost taste the inviting freedom when someone moved to block his path.  Fear gripping him blindly for a second, Yami brought his eyes up from the ground and was surprised to see Rex Raptor stood before him.  Opening his mouth to tell him to stand aside and let him pass, his voice caught in his throat at the peculiar expression on the other's face.  

It was a strange look that he couldn't identify which passed after a few long seconds as Rex nodded to him stiffly and moved out of his path.  Yami stood frozen for a second after the duellist disappeared back into the throng, his mind scrambling through possibilities before it came to a painful conclusion.  

He was getting paranoid again.  Glancing around himself, this realisation was strengthened when he saw that other duellists whom he had met before seemed to be avoiding his eyes, their faces tight as they regarded him briefly before turning away from him.  'It's as if they can sense the filth covering my skin, can see the bruises on my spirit and the scars on my body'.

Deciding that fresh air was desperately needed to clear away this feeling of panic and the irrational thoughts pummelling against his skull, Yami renewed his attempt at escape, forcing his way through people when they didn't move to let him pass.

Yugi noticed him slip out but a reassuring wave through their link allowed Yami to leave without being followed.  Bakura didn't move from his spot but his eyes tracked him out, a sensation that Yami deeply resented.  Heaving a sigh when he finally found himself alone in the fresh air, Yami's smile faltered a little when he saw the ominous clouds roiling above him, a promise of a severe storm hanging in the air.  Shoving his hands into his pockets, he decided to remain outside until Joey was done rather than returning inside to the hoard.  He rapidly started to reconsider this when he glanced up the street and his eyes locked on Kaiba's lean frame.

Swallowing heavily, Yami straightened from where he had been leaning against the wall and moved his hands down to rest at his sides.  The wind that was beginning to pick up snatched at the long coat that the CEO could always be seen wearing, his form appearing to swell and shrink as he closed the distance between them.  Calculating eyes slightly obscured by unruly hair held his own and a slight smirk was spreading on his lips.

"Kaiba," Yami acknowledged gruffly with a slight nod of his head, his hands curling into fists as he forced himself to hold his ground against the imposing form.  'I refuse to fear him.  I will not.'

"Yami," Kaiba replied smoothly with a more cheerful note in his voice than Yami had possessed.  Glancing through the window behind him, he met the crimson eyes again.  "Registering?"

"No."

A fine brow rose in genuine surprise at that.  "Really?  How odd.  I made the arrangements over the phone earlier so I don't need to be here.  It has been a long time since we've seen each other though and I thought you would be here submitting to the Tournament so, here I am."

"How delightful," Yami muttered back, the words curling with a sneer.  The defences were going up faster and firmer than they had in a long time.  His mental response was almost as painful as his physical against the taller figure, barriers locking and muscles tightening until they burned.  "And why did you seek my presence?"

Kaiba made a noise in the back of his throat that was almost melancholy.  "I'm out of practice.  I need to be at my best to duel and as you are the only duellist who could provide me with a challenge, I seek a duel with you.  I had thought that you could use the opportunity to sharpen your skills, but now that I know you have no intention of registering we could just call it a friendly match."

Blinking for a few seconds, Yami scrambled through his thoughts for an answer for that.  His instinctive response was to reply in the negative, protect himself from being attacked in such a manner, prevent his nemesis from seeing that his spirit had become so weak that his cards were ignoring him.

But logic dictated that he had an image to maintain, a façade of Game King to uphold and all the aspects of that title with it.  Last year, before Kresha, he would have relished a duel with Kaiba.  Would have enjoyed showing his superiority and ferocity in the arena.  He knew that the underlying reason for this duel was the grudge that was still held against him for that single defeat, but that was no concern of his.  

Kaiba wanted a friendly duel so there was nothing more at stake than his pride and negligible spirit.  His pride had been beaten enough recently for him to accept a loss, even at the hands of his enemy.  He needed to keep pretending, needed to prove that he was fine.  To Kaiba, duelling was the only way that that was going to happen.

The CEO had been watching him carefully, watching a muscle beneath Yami's right eye twitch as his mind worked before crimson eyes came back into focus and met his.  A barely perceptible nod and Kaiba smiled thinly.  Outward emotion was not something that he excelled at and the cool mask with the oily smile made Yami cringe inside. 

Body jolting when a hand clapped on his shoulder, he jerked around to see Honda laughing with Joey, his other arm slung around the bond's shoulders.  Bakura moving to his side with Ryou hanging back from them both cautiously, not wanting to interfere with whatever may transpire.  Still resentful, Yami blanked the snowy-haired teen entirely.  Yugi and Anzu followed them all out, his Hikari instantly sensing the tumultuous emotions throbbing in his aura and frowning at him with concern.

//Are you alright Yami?// 

//Yes, Little Light.  You're concern is unnecessary; I'm fine.//

Unconvinced, Yugi still remained quiet, deciding not to push the matter lest he offend his Dark.  He knew that his yami's mental state wasn't exactly stable at the moment, which meant that his emotions were extremely volatile.  A wrong word could make the other snap; he could feel it.

"What'ya doin' here Kaiba?" Joey asked sincerely, his voice holding none of its former malice to the elder Kaiba brother.  His assistance in helping them free Yami from Kresha's possession had not been forgotten and both he and Yugi felt in his debt.  Neither of them were sure what Yami felt but they sensed that he hadn't been entirely pleased with the situation.  Yami hated weakness in himself, that much was obvious.  The question was how much damage had that fact done when combined with having Kaiba seeing him minutes after he'd sliced open his arms.

"Challenging Yami to a duel, one which he has agreed to.  I'm sure that you cheerleaders will be most affronted if we were to leave you here, so if you would follow me now," Kaiba said over his shoulder as he turned and began walking back up the street.  Bakura growled quietly, the noise deep in his throat and barely perceptible even to Yami's ears.  Yami hesitated for a fraction of a second before following, his hands finding their way into his pockets and his head dipped lower than he would've liked.  Feeling eyes on his back once more, his shoulder muscles tightened and he quickened his pace a little.

Yugi caught up with his Dark after glancing at Joey's face and seeing the pointed look.  Bakura's expression was hovering between worry and fury, his mouth a thin line and his eyes ablaze, which only worried the smaller teen further.  Reaching up a small hand, he placed it on Yami's elbow to gain his attention. Crimson eyes snapped onto him expectantly although their brisk pace did not alter in the slightest.

//Yami?  Are you sure you're okay with this?//

There was an animalistic growl down the link that made Yugi snap his hand back from his Dark.  Yami's face had tightened and his eyes were dark, but he was not truly threatening him.  //Stop asking that Yugi.  If I wish for you to check upon my state of being I will ask.  Now leave me alone and allow me to focus on this upcoming duel.//

Swallowing heavily and feeling tears prickling at the sharp tones, Yugi nodded slightly and fell back to walk beside Joey, the blond looking down at him with worry.  Yami rarely called him by his name and he had never seen his eyes turn to him when the irises were that fierce.  

Bakura had obviously sensed the hostility through their link and glanced at the hikari with mild interest, his eyes returning to the back of the Pharaoh's head as his resolve to watch him became iron-clad.  Falling back a few paces so that he walked just behind Joey and Yugi, he clenched his teeth and vowed to bring much suffering to Kaiba should he cause this situation to get any worse than it already was.

Satisfied now that he was walking alone behind Kaiba, Yami cast his eyes forward once more and shut away the niggling feeling of guilt for talking to his Aibou in such tones.  He could not afford feelings like that now.  He needed to be cold and heartless to protect himself against this assault and operate at some semblance of his former skills.  

He couldn't see this as a simple duel; to him it was a test of his disguise and an attack on his spirit.  With little to no confidence in his abilities and the loss of his cards' loyalty, for the moment at least, Yami knew that this would most likely be a defeat for him.  But the world judged him by his duelling so to convince them that he was in good health in body, mind and spirit he had to duel.  His title condemned him once again.  First it gave him a false sense of security and now it dragged him to fight broken and weak against an adversary who was whole and strong.

Something wet spattered on his cheek and Yami looked up with some dismay.  The storm that had been brewing all day was finally opening above them.  A grumbling in the distance and fragmented light assured him that this would be a long and spectacular one, the air charged and heavy around them as they walked.

The mansion came into view just as the heavens opened, the group breaking into a jog up the long path and through the double, heavy doors.  The group surged around and past him when Yami froze just inside the doorway, his arms splayed to prevent him from falling as his momentum continued whilst his boots held firm.  It was dark inside of the house; not a single light on.  Illumination came brokenly from behind him for a few seconds as lightening cracked, sending his shadow, long and jagged, out several metres and highlighting the other figures in the room.

Heart pounding to the degree that he could feel it against his ribs, a sense of relief swelled through him when the overhead lights burst to life, his eyes burning from the sudden brightness as his body curled slightly against it.  Remembering where he was, he straightened his posture and closed the doors behind him.  Repressing a shudder when he acknowledged that he was trapping himself, Yami turned on his heel and watched as the others squeezed water out of the hair and clothes onto the carpet until Kaiba threw them towels.

Leaving the others to themselves, Kaiba now turned his attentions to Yami, approaching him slowly as a cat would, a staking quality in his step.  Yami wasn't sure if it was his fear-ridden imagination twisting his motions or if Kaiba had indeed started walking like that.  Standing an uncomfortable distance from him now, Kaiba stared Yami down for a few seconds in silence before speaking.

"Ordinarily I'd invite you to duel on the outdoor arena; it's a size larger than my indoor one.  But, with the storm I think we should stay inside."

Nodding slightly, Yami blinked at Kaiba's wave to follow him yet again before casting a worried glance to the rest of the group.  At the signal that they were following, he followed the elder teen's longer strides through the door opposite the ones he had just entered, tracking him through something of a maze of corridors.

Feeling himself getting more lost with every turn, Yami suddenly felt a clench of panic about his heart.  If he were lost he wouldn't be able to get out if his strength failed him.  He could be lost in this labyrinth for hours on end, alone, in the dark.  As fast as the thought occurred to him he discarded it.  They were petty fears; he had worse things to worry about now.

****

Another update in January.  Thanks for reading and please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Realized that I haven't done a disclaimer yet; I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.  I never have and if the universe stays as it is I never will.  Don't sue me. Domination: Chapter 3 

"I challenged you so you can make the opening move," Kaiba said as moved around the edge of the arena to get to his platform, leaving Yami stood staring at his own.

The room was cavernous, long thin windows stretching from top to bottom and the lightning causing the dim lighting of the room to explode into brightness before dulling again.  Yami was comfortable on a dueling platform and had been for many years, but staring up at this one sent ice down his spine, a feeling of dread and outright fear.

His cards ignored him, the Heart of the Cards, which he so strongly depended upon, had become meaningless so odds were he would lose this duel.  Kaiba was an outstanding player and at top form Yami had always had to work hard to come out victorious.  He didn't have a chance in Hell and he had suddenly realised that he had been kidding himself all the way here in believing that he did.

Noticing that Yami had yet to move towards his end of the arena, Kaiba turned on his heel and strode back over to the Game King, his eyes narrowed in consideration as he regarded the other's guarded expression and tense posture.

"Scared?  I expected more of you Yami, really.  You're in your element when dueling so I can't see why this friendly match would be a problem for you," he spoke softly, an underlying mocking quality in his voice although mostly he spoke with confusion.

Yami did not and indeed could not say anything to that, holding the taller figure's stare and willing himself not to look down although he desperately wanted to.  He was waiting for the challenge and for the insults.  He was waiting and constantly feeling the other's gazes burning into him.  He could sense his Hikari's confusion also, having not heard what had been said to him by Kaiba.

"I don't want to duel.  I-I just don't want to."  That said in a low voice, Yami attempted to step around him but froze when he felt a hand clasp firmly about his arm, holding him in place.  Restraining him.  

Catching his breath, he jerked his arm forward out of the other's grip and felt something tremble inside him when the fingers only tightened.  Pulled back, he was forced to meet Kaiba's eyes as his other forearm was grabbed, crimson eyes wide as his muscles shook.

"Damnit Yami I'm trying to help.  I'm not going to hurt you and there are no stakes so why the Hell is this so hard for you?  Why won't you duel?" Kaiba asked insistently, genuinely wanting an answer to that question.  Yami was the Game King so dueling and games in general were an important part of him.  If he was ignoring that there had to be a serious problem, but he couldn't see how what had happened to Yami some months ago was affecting him in this way now.

"Let go of me," Yami managed to bite out, his voice quiet but trying to boast a threat.  He wanted to lunge at and throttle Kaiba right now, but his entire body strongly disagreed with that idea and wanted nothing more than to curl up inside his Soul Room.  Not that he would allow it to though; allow Kaiba that victory over him.

"No.  I want an answer," Kaiba stated flatly, his eyes narrowing slightly as his tone became more demanding.  He was aware that he was scaring Yami and that his grip was tighter than it needed to be, but he felt angry at the other for some reason.  Anger that the King of Games was refusing to play, his only worthy opponent depriving him the simple pleasure of a duel.  If Yami hung up the dueling glove then he would never be able to overpower him in a Duel, prove himself to the other.

Yami wanted to beg then, plead with Kaiba to release him and he was disgusted with himself for actually being willing to do that.  Lowering his head slightly, he dropped his eyes simply so that he wouldn't have to stare into those demanding eyes.  Lightning flashed again, sending harsh contours across the slim body holding him and he jolted in surprise.

"What are you playing at Kaiba?  Yami!  Fight back!  Get him off you!" Honda shouted from across the room, already stepping forward to intervene if need be.

"Kaiba you creep!  Let him go!  Yami?  Why aren't you stopping him?" Anzu joined in, also beginning to approach them.  The others rushed to block their approach but the mass movement of people towards him suddenly had Yami feeling extremely claustrophobic, another feeling he was unaccustomed to.

Kaiba seemed to come to some sort of realization in his mind, tightening his grip to bruising for a second to gain Yami's attention before speaking in an incredulous voice.  "You *still* haven't gotten over it?"

Barely hearing that statement of fact, Yami felt his mind gain some control over his body as Honda and Anzu continued their efforts to get to them and jerked out of Kaiba's hands.  Taking several shaky steps back from him, he placed a hand against the wall behind him and tried to regain his composure even though he knew that the damage was done. 

Breathing in harsh, painful gasps, he clenched his eyes shut against the onslaught of people, the room, the shadows and the lightning.  Spine curling as much as his forced position would allow, his elbows now clamped against his ribs in a vain attempt to protect himself.  

Shuddering and repressing the cry of panic and pain when he felt hands clamp onto his shoulders again, he felt the owner shake him slightly until he dared to open his eyes and respond to him.  Kaiba fairly glowered at him when he jerked violently in his arms, trying to break free from the grip.  Fingers tightened against his flesh and some small, absent part of his mind noted that he'd have bruises from that grip in a few hours.

"Damnit Yami!  Why is this still affecting you?  I killed him myself.  I shot him in the head.  He *can' t* hurt you anymore.  Why the Hell is this taking so long to sink in through that skull of yours?"  Kaiba's frustration was mounting as he spoke, his grip going past bruising to outright pain, frustration and confusion pulling at his muscles.

Yami made a small sound and twisted his face away from Kaiba's, dipping his head and gritting his jaw so as not to cry out which he so desperately wanted to do.  He was trapped, hurting and at the other's mercy, for the moment at least.  He couldn't bear what his imagination was projecting and desperately wanted this to end now in any way possible.

"You *shot* someone Kaiba?" Honda questioned sharply, eyes narrow as he moved to stand at their sides, his hand twitching to wrench the CEO away from the terrified Game King.  His attention was caught though as well as his concern.  He knew Kaiba was cold-hearted and ruthless but he never considered him to be a killer.  With the way he was holding Yami now though he was partially afraid that he was going to get something close to a demonstration any second.

"Who hurt you Yami?" Anzu asked softly, eyes large as she regarded him from beside Honda.  Bakura, growling loudly, walked around all three of them and shoved Kaiba aside.  With no hands holding him up, Yami felt his knees give out and sank to the floor weakly, eyes wide and muscles twitching.  He couldn't stand, couldn't bolt and hide. Couldn't escape.  His strength was all but gone and coldness was seeping into his limbs in its place.

Yugi made a sound that was a cross between a yelp and a word, diving at his Dark's side and taking his hands firmly whilst the clueless pair gawped.

"You leave him the fuck alone," Bakura snarled out dangerously, standing in a loose-but-ready fighter's pose between Kaiba and Yami, head dipped and fingers curled, prepared to land fast and hard blows on the taller teen at any moment.  "You know what the he's been through.  Have some goddamned consideration before you go grabbing him.  And if you touch him again, I *will* kill you."  

Kaiba narrowed his eyes slightly at the enraged spirit but bit off the scathing remark that came to his tongue.  He knew from the look in the freezing eyes boring into him that the Tomb-Raider would make very good on that threat if given incentive.

"I don't understand," Anzu interrupted, her expression matching Honda's in confusion.  "What's going on?"

They both looked to Yugi who was working hard to keep Yami from receding into his mind, rubbing at his arms furiously, for an answer.  The once fiery crimson eyes had now turned dull and lifeless, his pale face oddly blank from where it had been riddled with conflicting emotions.  

The hikari blinked up at his two friends before casting unsure eyes on his counterpart who did nothing more than stare back at him levelly.  A sluggish blink before a muscle beneath his right eye trembled and a spurt of life crossed their bond.

//Tell them.  I don't care anymore.  Just leave me alone.//

The words were bitter and that tone was alien, only scaring Yugi even more.   Yami looked… Defeated.  He had only seen that look a handful of times in the past and every time it tore at him.  Yugi could understand why Honda and Anzu were so worried at seeing such a drastic change in the Game King's countenance; a trembling, nervous wreck from where he had been confident, bold and strong.  He didn't dare imagine what Yami thought of himself at the moment.

He honestly hadn't known that Yami was still so badly affected by what had happened.  He knew that the nightmares and the discovery of his scars by Honda and Anzu were making life difficult for him at the moment, but he had had no idea that his spirit was this damaged.  He had always looked up to Yami, even more so after what he had gone through to protect him last year.  Yami was almost untouchable in his eyes and if something did hurt him he figured that the spirit would be able to overcome it.  He had never stopped for a moment to realize that Yami was so human.

After a moment's deliberation he decided that having them know was the only way that they would understand why Yami was acting in such a way, and the only way to convince them not to push him for reasons behind the scars on his forearms.

Bakura was watching them both intently although he had yet to turn his back on Kaiba who hadn't moved since being berated by the spirit.  He knew what was going to happen next from the look on Yugi's face, and from the way Yami had turned his head away from Honda and Anzu standing over him it was obvious that he was anticipating it too.  

Ryou glided between him and the CEO silently, not taking his eyes off of Yugi as he did so but positioning himself as a barrier between his yami and Kaiba.  The tension in the air was escalating at a tremendous rate, so much so that no one so much as flinched when a bolt of lightning stuck what seemed to be overhead.

Clearing his throat, Yugi spoke in a quiet voice that shattered the sudden-silence that filled the room.  No one moved and all eyes were on him, aside from Yami's whose eyes had fixated on a crinkle in his right trouser leg.  He could barely listen to this let alone see their reaction.  

He was curious as to how Yugi was going to word it though, as well as curious as to how he was going to take this.  It felt like his stomach was trying to destroy itself and his skin was being frozen from the inside.  His head hurt and his vision was out of focus, something that he was oddly grateful for as if by sheer chance he *did* look up he wouldn't be able to see their faces twist clearly.

"L-last year, I got taken and Yami came to save me.  But t-to get me back safely, he…" Swallowing hard Yugi suddenly fully understood why it had been so hard for Yami to repeat what had happened to him.  It was too horrific to comprehend let alone speak.  Added to that the fact that he didn't *want* to say it, it was little wonder that his throat seemed to close up around the words that needed to be spoken.  Taking another breath, he met his friend's eyes and forced himself to say it in one go.  "Yami was, a-assaulted."

Yami shot up from the ground as if burned, turning his back on them all as he strode away from them, his muscles tight and his eyes ablaze.  He turned in a tight circle to face the stunned group with something that seemed to be a mixture of anger, insult and insanity in his eyes.

"'Assaulted'?  Why don't we just call it what it is, Yugi, hmm?" he asked in a tone that was more demanding than questioning.  He looked furious and the burst of flaming emotion was making his muscles quake.  The onslaught was already starting to get the better of him; the beginnings of familiar sensations through his body coming to bear.  A handful of frozen insects already seemed to be scuttling around his ribs beneath his skin rapidly, a minor amount as it would quickly become thousands before he broke down entirely.

Eyes large and face taunt he continued his rant, his hands moving rapidly to emphasize his words without his conscious thought, seeking release through movement on some level.  He paced in what seemed to be a confined area, never approaching them but never retreating back from them either.  His pride was hurting now and it lent him strength.  It was a short loan though.

"I got fucked up the arse and done over sideways.  I got torn up and screwed over, again and again, and I didn't do a damn thing.  I handed myself over like a whore and backed off like a cowering dog when it got too much for me, even though you were at stake," he fairly spat, jabbing a pointed finger in Yugi's direction who was watching him fearfully.  He, like everyone else in the room, knew that the pressure was reaching breaking point and they weren't too sure what Yami would do when he got there.

Disgust creeping into his tone now as Yami finally gathered the words to admit that which he had been hiding openly, his hands ceased their movements and came to his sides, rubbing at the hidden flesh agitatedly.  His scars itched white lines up his arms and the scar on his shoulder felt like it was being burned away.  

Countering those were the sensations indicating impending hyperventilating increasing tenfold, thousands of chilling things scratching around rapidly under his skin, the tanned surface feeling like it was moving independently of his body.  His eyes prickled with tears of frustration and two broke free, coursing searing paths down his cheeks before dropping away at his jaw and spattering on the lush carpet beneath his boots.

"And now, even when he's cold and rotting my head it *still* fucked up and to top it off I don't think I can take much more of this. I have been trying *so* hard to hide this Aibou, but I-I just can't a-anymore. "  The final words were shuddered more than spoken and Bakura was in front of him in an instant, clamping firm arms around his shoulders and allowing Yami to bury his head into his collarbone.  

They trusted each other and that was why Bakura was one of three people that Yami would be able to cope with this action from.  Yami did not reciprocate the forceful embrace, his eyes wide despite all light being blocked out by Bakura's dampening shirt and his fists clenched as his arms clamped around his sides.  His breathing came in rapid gasps as he tried to control it, all his attention focused on not losing that precious shred of control, the only piece he had at the moment.  Protection wasn't his immediate concern now as Bakura completed the shield for him.

Silence filled the room, broken only by the rain and Yami's ragged breathing.  Yugi and Joey moved to approach the two entwined spirits but stopped when a crack of lightening boomed through the air, the room being plunged into darkness and illuminated in short, flickering bouts when it struck again.

Bakura heard Yami yelp into his shirt before jolting out of his arms and away in one fluid movement.  His breathing seemed deafening to him, and he listened to the scrambling sounds as Yami tried to escape this sudden prison coupled with the harsh noises to track him.  Hearing broken speech in the background, he extrapolated that the others had herded themselves into a group and were now trying to find and reassure Yami.  Not that he was going to let them though.  

Concentrating, he brought some of his magic to hand and forced a soft glow to emanate from the Ring, dim and unobtrusive but illuminating his features in a ghastly way.  Yami had found the wall on the opposite side to where he had formerly been, the duelling arena blocking them from the other's view now, which was what Bakura wanted.

Kneeling down beside the crouched figure, he placed his hands on the muscles either side of his spine and forced the heels of his hands into the flesh, rubbing up and down his back quickly and firmly.  Yami needed to be grounded and sensation was the best way to do that.

Panic had gripped Yami tightly now, his breathing out of his control, air coming to his lungs in short, shallow bursts, his chest heaving and his muscles tight.  Eyes wide, he stared blankly in the darkness wishing fervently for it all to stop.

When the worst was over the results of a complete lack of a decent breath began to kick in.  His head felt sickeningly light and his muscles lost the strength that his anger had lent them, his body tipping against Bakura's chest as his eyes sank closed.  He felt exhausted in mind and spirit now and he had no idea what he was going to do.  Resigning himself not to think about it, he buried himself deeper into the warmth beside him, wanting to escape the coldness he felt throughout himself.

Collecting the lax figure in his arms, Bakura ceased the flow of magic into the Ring and turned to face the room as he stood.  He could vaguely make out the long lines of the windows lining one wall and started towards them.  He needed to get Yami out of here.  He knew that the others would be crowding him now and Yami would certainly not be able to deal with that.  

Yami hadn't been this bad in a long time; all the pent-up emotions culminating over the last few weeks had just exploded in one great burst and he would be feeling the repercussions for days.  But the hardest part would be the next few hours and there was no way that he was going to trust anyone else to look after Yami through that time.

"Bakura!  Where are you going?  You can't just-" Anzu started, seeing his distinct outline at the window ledge as he looked out from it with Yami still huddled in his arms.  Her speech was interrupted by Bakura backing away from the window and the Ring started to glow furiously.

Eyes clamped shut tightly and lips moving rapidly as he recited the spell, Bakura felt the Ring begin to burn at his chest and muttered out the last few words of the ancient incantation.  The sound of shattering glass filled the air as the panes of the window he stood before collapsed, the wind lashing inside greedily and carrying raindrops with it. 

Shaking his head slightly to clear some of the fog the drain had caused as he opened his eyes, Bakura stepped up onto the ledge and dropped the short distance to the ground, Yami still held securely against his chest.  Awake but by no means aware, the silent spirit offered no objections to being outside in the harsh elements and barely blinked when Bakura broke into a run.

At the wrecked window the group had congregated to watch them leave.  Their shouts to return had already been given up on as they instead watched as the spirits disappeared into the shadows running alongside the perimeter wall at the end of the expanse of grass.  Stepping on the shards of glass with irritation, Kaiba yanked out his cell-phone in the darkness and jabbed a number in.  Yelling for an explanation as to why the power wasn't back yet, he broke off his threats and hung up when the overhead lights hummed back into life.

Turning back to face the group still at the exposed window, he found that he was not the only one watching Yugi for an explanation.  Anzu and Honda were staring, looking both pained and expecting at the same time.  Joey and Ryou were still looking out of the window trying to see where Bakura had taken Yami whilst Yugi's attention was torn from the outside by the stares of his friends.

"I think we need a few things explained Yugi," Honda stated flatly, his arms crossed with both concern and agitation.  He had never seen Yami, or anyone for that matter, break up like that before and it made him anxious.  It also made him angry that he and Anzu had been left in the dark about all of this for what appeared to be a very long time.  They were Yami's friends too after all.

"I hope Yami's alright," Anzu murmured more to herself than anyone else.  "We can't just let Bakura take him away like that though!  We have to find him!  He needs help," she said earnestly, looking to each of them in turn as she spoke.

"Yes Anzu, but not the help that we can provide.  No one is looking for Yami-Yugi right now.  Bakura will take care of him," Ryou stated firmly, his eyes hard as he turned on her from the window.  He knew and understood that Yami would not want to be seen in such a state right now, and Honda was right about one thing; they needed to be told in a more informative way what had happened to the Game King.

They would only give them sparing details though; Yami was very reserved and it would not do to have his defilement explained in detail to them, not without his consent or presence anyway.  But some things needed to be said despite what effects it would have.

"This way.  I think the living room would be better suited for this discussion," Kaiba said as he began walking towards the door, apparently unruffled by the damage done to his property.  After exchanging looks of varying meanings the group followed, Yugi, Ryou and Joey walking behind Anzu and Honda, their shoulders almost brushing as they moved.  

****


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks go, yet again, to my wonderful Beta and friend Ayod Botla for combing over all these chapters and willingly letting me bounce ideas off of her.  Also a veritable gold-mine of character and story information, which I have very little of. 

Thank you to all of you who have already reviewed and I ask of you to do the same for this chapter.  Thanks for the patience you've had with this too.  I only have a little time for writing now and exams are looming so I have even less.  An 8-page chapter once a month is adequate I hope.  Anyway, hope you enjoy this and please leave a comment.

  Domination: Chapter 4 

Morning came cheerful and bright as ever, the sun almost mocking as it shone joyfully down upon the exhausted figures.  Bakura walked impossibly close to Yami as they closed the final few meters to the back door of the Game Shop.  Casting weary eyes onto the other as they stopped with their boots touching the welcome mat, a dry smirk tugged half-heartedly at his lips.

"Sleep; you look like you've been run over by a camel.  Call the house if you want me to come back," he offered genuinely, his arms slack at his sides as he watched the shorter teen turn to face him.

Scrubbing a hand up across his face and through his unruly bangs, Yami nodded slightly before looking at the door anxiously.  He didn't want to go in there.  Not after the way he had left Yugi yesterday.

Bakura noticed his apprehension.  "Want me to come in with you?"

"No.  No-I'm fine.  Thank you."  A dry, humourless laugh before he spoke again.  "Thank you for everything."

Grunting slightly in acceptance, Bakura glanced about his surroundings in an uninterested manner before turning on his heel and making his way back onto the street.  Yami watched him leave before turning back to face the door.  Reaching out a hand, he played a hunch and was found correct when the door opened under the light pressure of his fingers.

Inside was warm, quiet and empty, unsurprising as the sun had only been up for a few scant hours.  If Yugi had indeed gotten any sleep last night, which Yami guilty doubted, he wouldn't be up yet.  Which left the ancient spirit alone with his thoughts until he felt ready to face his Hikari.

After leaving the mansion, something that he only vaguely remembered in the deepest recesses of his mind, Bakura had carried him to a nearby building.  After breaking in, which only took seconds given the Tomb Raider's skills, the snow-haired spirit had simply sat holding Yami against him until he broke out of the mild trance he had slipped into.

He had broken down again then, not tears of frustration and anger though, but of self-pity, despair and fear.  Bakura had said nothing until he was done, knowing that he needed this release and made idle circles in his scalp with his fingertips as he wept.  When he was emotionally exhausted he had expected himself to simply fall asleep but his mind was alive with too many conflicting thoughts to allow him that comfort.

So he and Bakura had talked.  It was straightforward, civil conversation that was both frank and honest as they picked apart what had happened and theorised what was going to happen next.  No fighting, no insults, just talking.  Bakura's intelligence and sheer understanding had once again surprised Yami as he spoke, seemingly knowing exactly what to say and at what moment to say it. 

He knew too much in fact.  Yami knew that the Tomb Raider had been attacked in the same way as he had at some time, and now more than ever he was curious to know about that incident.  Bakura never spoke of it so Yami never pressed, but he had obviously dealt with it eventually.  'Perhaps that's why I want to ask him.  I need to know that this is all going to get better.'

Shaking away his thoughts, Yami shut the door completely behind him and started towards the table intending to down a few gallons of coffee before facing the rest of the world.  Pulling a mug aside from the cluster left on the table, he turned to face the countertop to make the coffee but froze when a flash of steel caught his eyes.

A butcher's knife, the largest they owned, laid next to the cutting board on the counter, it surface smeared by the fat of some animal and its handle worn from use.  There was no beauty to the instrument; it was basic and dirty.  But the elegance of its blade and the simplicity of its purpose had Yami transfixed.

Long, smooth, light to handle and sturdy to grip; an impressive tool in many respects.  It cleaved flesh from bone and opened multiple, 'things', be those what they may.  Thoughts other than the standard as to what that knife was good for cutting came to Yami's mind and for a moment he was lost in his thoughts, transfixed in mind and paralysed in body.

It would be so easy to pick the instrument up and grant himself a few moments of relief; a twisted kind of pleasure that would drive all of the thoughts that he didn't want to have there out of his mind.  It could bring a sharp, searing quirk of a sensation that would capture the attention of even the most ignorant mind.  

Distraction, escape, release, and a thousand other things that he desperately sought for, craved even, could be accomplished through a single, simple action.  He'd been along a dark path before and like lightning, this had brought him a light.  It wasn't a comforting, stable or even good light, but it was there.  It was a shred of control and freedom in a void of chaos, pain and misery.

But there was the problem. He had been down a path similar to the one he was walking now.  He knew that it was only momentary and that it wasn't a real answer; merely an enticement for false freedom.  Perhaps even pleasure in a twisted way.

It would take him back to square one meaning that he would have to start all over again; the loss of control, the wounds deeper and longer and wider and harder to hide, more damage, more punishment, more pain.  But still no release that was of any significance when compared to the impenetrable blackness around him.  A few moments of drunken relief and then dripping wounds and a cold knot in his stomach that would ensure that he paid for those few moments dearly.

Still, it was deliciously tempting.  Only a yard away; staring at him, daring him; so simple and straightforward.  He'd done it before and come through it more or less intact, but was it worth it overall?  After last night the answer to that question had become open to dispute.

Frozen, Yami found himself unable to move as the war in his mind raged.  He was afraid to pick it up, even to put it away, because he *knew* that he would use it against himself.  But he was also afraid to walk away because if he did he would be turning his back on the only truly effective release he knew.  

He was trapped by his own emotions once again.  'How ironic'. 

His fingers twitched at this side as he stood staring, a niggle from the Puzzle telling him that Yugi was near him now.  His Hikari stood unmoving in the doorway, his shirt crumpled and face pale, hardly daring to breathe as he regarded his Dark.

He knew that Yami had sensed his presence although the troubled spirit had made no indication of it.  He was afraid to speak or move for fear of bringing the conflict in Yami's spirit to an abrupt end that would result in a hasty movement and bleeding cuts.

After long moments that felt like an eternity to both halves, Yugi worked up the courage to form words and allow them to escape his lips.  "Can you..?" he asked hesitantly, his eyes large as his gaze flickered between the large knife and Yami who still seemed unable to take his eyes off of it.

"No," Yami replied flatly.  He didn't know what the end of that question was going to be before Yugi trailed off but he could take several educated guesses; can you 'walk away', 'put it away', 'resist'?  He had given the correct response to all of those so he did nothing but continue to stare at the alluring blade as Yugi approached him from his side without vacillation.  

Picking up the knife, Yugi slipped it into the sink and out of Yami's view, biting his lip when he heard the genuinely relieved sigh from his Dark half from behind him.  Turning back to face Yami, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his waist, needing to receive reassurance as well as give it.  He was afraid now; afraid for his Dark in that he would even want to go back down that road.  But he was also afraid for himself.  He worried so much for Yami, he didn't know how he'd cope if Yami got that 'bad' again.

And he was curious too, a dangerous kind of curiosity which meant that he would never ask it aloud.  He didn't understand why Yami felt tempted, driven at one time to use blades upon himself.  It scared him that something which was obviously a very powerful force within the elder spirit's being was completely beyond his comprehension and understanding.  Perhaps he should ask Bakura about it.  'The Tomb Raider seems to be all-knowing about pretty much everything else about my Yami' he thought a little bitterly, and he tightened his arms possessively around his other.

"Thank you," Yami murmured after a moment, making no move to break the embrace as he let his hands sit lightly on Yugi's shoulders.  The relief that he felt when the object of his temptation was hidden from his view was unquestionable.  It terrified him that the simple idea of harming himself had been so desirous to him.  A few days ago he could handle a blade without feeling that craving, although it did remind him of what he had done before.  'Bakura's right; I am slipping'.

Nodding quickly, Yugi stepped away from him and looked him up and down, seemingly trying to assess his condition.  He looked weary and saddened, eyes duller than normal and his posture not as regal.  His jacket had disappeared at some point leaving tanned arms riddled with fading marks clearly visible.  Usually Yami went out of his way to keep the scars covered, but this morning he seemed too tired to care.  That or he just didn't give a damn at the moment.  But there were no new physical injuries meaning that he and Bakura hadn't fought last night.

Yugi couldn't know if this had been the first time since he stopped that Yami had been seriously tempted to harm himself again; Yami never spoke of it and either gave a reassuring smile at or completely ignored the enquiring looks that his Hikari gave him when an idle hand glided up and touched one through his sleeve.  Still, he hadn't done anything to himself recently, which was a vast relief.

"Where were you last night?" the shorter teen asked finally, resisting the urge to cross his arms in fear that Yami would react badly to the gesture.  Instead he allowed his fingers to fiddle with the material of his jacket cuffs having not changed clothes since yesterday.  As a matter of fact, he hadn't done a lot of things since yesterday, sleeping for example.  A pang of hunger bit at his stomach but he ignored it.  The very thought of food whilst his Dark had been missing all night had made him nauseous. 

Sighing tiredly and repeating his earlier gesture, Yami rubbed at his eye with the heel of his hand before dragging his fingers through his hair as he sat down at the table.  "I don't know.  Somewhere.  I'm sorry I scared you," he said genuinely, meeting violet eyes with bright red ones.

"You scared all of us!  I couldn't find you and you put up that wall again so I didn't know if you were hurt or not! Yami why didn't you tell me you were still so upset by all of this?"  He sounded angry and on some deep level he was.  But mostly Yugi just felt scared.  He didn't know what was causing Yami's regression back to this dark state and he felt helpless in trying to stop it.  He wanted an explanation and a reassurance that this would stop, and soon.  He needed to see life in his Dark again, light and fire instead of this defeated attitude.    

But then again Yami was never going to be the same again after Kresha took him, particularly the second time that led to his serious attempt at suicide.  Yugi felt a niggle of guilt as he realised the selfishness and utter inconsideration in what he was thinking.  After last night Yami had every right to be as withdrawn and saddened as he wanted.  Yugi didn't need the spirit to be his guardian for now anyway, if anything their roles had radically reversed.  He shouldn't want reassurance at the moment when Yami needed so much support and as he acknowledged that Yugi found himself watching for the other's reaction with trepidation.

Barely reacting to the heated words, Yami's eyes were on the floor as he stared, turning the words over in his mind.  He couldn't understand how his Hikari was tolerating his behaviour, which he himself was disgusted by.  His Light was innocent and pure, too easily affected by another's misery and the last thing Yami wanted was to hurt him.  Surely Yugi felt some need to distance and protect himself from what he was going through?  But he had shouted at his darker side for putting up barriers to save him from his torments last night so Yugi felt angry at him for being protected.  'By Ra this is confusing' Yami mused absently.

"Well?" Yugi prompted, fear and a little anger, either at Yami or himself he didn't know, making the words fleeting as he spoke before thought came and he regretted the verbal shove immediately.  Not that Yami seemed to have heard it.  The spirit said something in a low voice that his ears didn't quite catch and he asked him in a small voice to repeat himself.

"Why do you even bother?" Yami asked louder, his head rising and tipping to the side as he put the question forth, genuinely wanting an answer.    

"Really Hikari, I'm not worth this.  You, are beautiful and pure and I'm just going to destroy you.  I am filthy and *tainted* and I don't know how to fix that right now.  I can't protect you and the others if I'm risking you with my very *presence*, Yugi.  I can stop this affecting you though, but you're not letting me.  I'm not sure what's happening to me but I *know* that I'm not going to let you get dragged down with me.  I'm a selfish bastard and I want you with me through all this.  But you just *can't* get involved in this." 

He had started pacing at some point, avoiding Yugi's eyes and gesturing with stiff hands as he spoke in rambling sentences that came from his mind and soul raw and unrefined, obviously his mind in a similar state to last night where had moved in just the same manner.  Like a trapped animal, except he felt trapped in what he was saying.  Yami was trying to say something that he didn't know how to put into words to get his meaning and intention across affectively.  

Finally he stopped and just stared at his Light, eyes hooded and arms slack.  After a long pause through which his breathing seemed to be the loudest, he spoke again in a softer voice trying to reach the smaller teen and to make him understand. 

"I need to go off in the middle of the night and walk for miles without actually getting anywhere. I need to hit Bakura until my knuckles bleed or until my strength gives out and we just talk.  I need to cry, *damnit*.  And I need you to stay away so I can do all this without you getting involved.  I *know* you know that but I don't see why you're trying so hard to understand."

Taking a moment to digest those words, Yugi blinked back tears of confusion, sadness and mild shock.  Closing the short distance between them in smooth steps, he took Yami's cool hands in his own and stared up at the wan face in a manner that was a mixture of defiance and imploring. 

"I want to understand because I *care*.  Yami, I love you as a part of myself and I can't just watch as you break apart like this.  I want to help you and so does everybody else.  We all want to help you, you know that.  If you need to do all those things then you should.  If you think you should go away for a bit to get yourself back together with Bakura or-or Joey, then go.  But don't just shut me out.  You're hurting me more by blocking me than letting me see."

Yami had no idea what to say to that so he merely slipped his hands free from his Light's and wound them around his back, bringing Yugi into a comforting embrace.  "I.  I didn't know," he admitted eventually, the closest he was going to give to an apology right then.  He didn't feel sorry for pushing Yugi away from him; he felt sorry for inadvertently causing him pain.

Yugi had been about to reply into the damp shirt when an unusually loud noise from the letterbox and the sound of something heavy connecting with the floor broke the air.  Giving a gentle squeeze before releasing his Dark, Yugi walked out of the kitchen towards the door.  Stopping in front of Joey who stood beside the door, he frowned at the videotape in his hands.

"Joey?" he asked, violet eyes narrowing slightly with curiosity.  He had a bad feeling about this.

The blond shrugged slightly.  "It just has some writin' on it.  Can't read it though.  Looks like little pictures."

Stepping out of the living room, Bakura moved up from behind Joey and glanced at the cassette, his slender brow quirking up in surprise as he saw the etchings on the label.

"That's because it's Hieroglyphics, Pup," he stated flatly, deftly reaching for it and snatching it away in one movement.  Walking towards Yami who stood in the doorway leading to the kitchen, he stood at his side and twirled the piece of plastic in his fingers.  

"Felt that my Hikari was here.  Came in the front way before you ask," Bakura told him before Yami could speak, his narrowed eyes still on the tape as he spoke.  Yami snorted slightly but said nothing.

Satisfied when he came to the conclusion that it was just a tape and that the content was all that they need worry about, the snow-haired thief handed it to Yami whilst looking back to Yugi and Joey.

"It says 'Play Me' and I can't see anything wrong with it," he stated simply leaving them to figure out the rest.  Crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe, he looked to Yami nonchalantly and watched as the former Pharaoh performed his own analysis.  

Eyes closed, the spirit had two fingers hovering millimetres above the plastic surface, the twin eyes of Horus glowing faintly on his forehead and the Puzzle.  After a few moments he brought his hand back to his side and handed the tape back to Bakura, crimson eyes meeting Joey's evenly.  He'd had a suspicion that the group would have stayed here with Yugi and he was grateful to them for it, but he was a little worried that they had overheard what had been said in the kitchen.

"It's fine.  There's a trace of, something though.  It's old and familiar but I can't tell what it is exactly," he announced still trying to get his mind to work about the sensation.  It hissed and burned at him, the fading touch of an old and powerful magic-user.  Shaking it aside he set his mind on what it could be.  

"Maybe it's Shadi," Joey suggested as they all began to make their way into the living room where Ryou, Anzu, and Honda sat watching them silently.  "Or Pegasus.  I doubt he'd just give up on the Eye.  Maybe he's after Bakura."

Yami remained standing behind the sofa, keeping it between himself and the others.  The realisation that his arms were hideously exposed to all of the group jolted him more than he had thought and he crossed them instantly, hiding the majority of the old wounds.  As if sensing his discomfort, the eyes left him and everyone focused on Bakura who was making his way to the television.  

"Now there's a comforting thought," Bakura muttered in a low voice as he knelt down to slot the tape into the machine.  Flicking on the television screen, he stepped back so that they could all see and stood beside Yami with his arms crossed, mirroring the other's position and train-of-thought perfectly.  Curious and suspicious of what this tape held, all pairs of eyes waited as the screen crackled white before flickering to black and then to a picture.

Yami's eyes instantly widened and his eyes dropped limply when he recognized the room the screen showed, the angle coming from a high angle in the corner.  The same solid door stood at the very top of the screen and the filthy bed dominated the left hand side, the mere sight of it making his stomach twist in a cold, unforgiving movement.

He felt Yugi grip his forearm when the door opened and he saw himself being thrust into the room by Kresha, his pale face as clear on the screen as the terror his features held.  Joey was already scrambling to remove the horrifying images before they could progress but Bakura beat him to it, jerking his hand and causing the screen to die with a low whine.  

No one moved and no one seemed to dare look at him.  Honda looked angry and Anzu terrified.  Yugi was fighting tears as the memories of how they found Yami a few minutes after that scene replayed themselves.  Joey stood slowly and cast his eyes of Yugi before finally gathering the courage to look to Yami.  Bakura busied himself with removing the tape and holding it in trembling hands, glaring at the thing as he barely resisted the urge to snap it over his knee.  They might be able to find out where it came from and then he'd ram it down the throat of whoever sent it. 

Everyone had been too caught up in their own shock to notice that Yami had moved.  Where Joey had lunged at the screen Yami had backed away from it, stopping only when his back met the wall that he now leant against heavily.  Eyes wide and mouth slightly open, his gaze was still fixed on the blank screen.  

Shock had been his initial reaction, then absolute horror at being confronted with what had been one of the most desperate moments of his existence.  Mind reeling, he felt his thoughts slowly gather back together and then a sense of impending doom settled in his stomach, leaving it light and watery.  He suddenly felt extremely sick.

"Yami?" Yugi asked quietly, moving towards him slowly with his hands out to him, reaching as if to touch him.  The rest of the group hovered back a few meters, watching the pair anxiously.

Blinking, the voice helped to startle his mind into working properly again and a conclusion rapidly materialised.  Crimson eyes snapped onto his Hikari's significantly softer ones and he spoke words of damnation instead of comfort and reassurance, voicing what his mind had somehow forced itself to register.

"There was a camera in that room."

****

Yes, unlike 'Submission', 'Domination' is going to have a much stronger plot.  This is an evil cliffy but the next one will be, if all goes to plan, worse.  This chapter did not want to be written but I'll make up for any weakness next time.  Chapter 5 has a lot of Yami/Bakura interaction, which seems to be going over well with everyone so far.  Leave a review but don't send me any plot suggestions please; I have already got most of this fic planned out.  Some constructive words would be nice though.  Thanks again!


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter is over double the length it should have been but there was no way that I could cut it in half without wrecking it so you're getting it in one big block.  This has the upside of a fallback for me though; If I don't finish Chapter 6 in time for April I can say that you got double last time and so don't whine.   Winners all round.

I struggled with this chapter so excuse any weaknesses present, but after Chapter 7 the ball *really* starts rolling.  All this build-up is necessary, trust me.  Just so that you know, this fic is going to be very large.  Not quite the length of 'Game Queen and Then Some', which was completely different to write, but far longer than 'Submission'.  I sincerely hope you don't lose patience with me and that I don't lose steam with this.

High and mighty thanks go to Ayod Botla for all her hard work betaing this and thanks go to everyone reading this and, far more importantly, reviewing. (Hint-hint).  I hope you enjoy this chapter and if so please leave your thoughts in a review.

**Domination: Chapter 5**

Three days passed in a cold and grey blur, strangely still, as the world seemed to pass by the spirit of the Puzzle without his participation.  No surprise as he had spent very little time with anyone else, focusing all his energies on the magical signature on the tape.  He needed answers.  He needed some idea of what to do next.  And this obsession was scaring Yugi.

He had never seen his Yami so intent before, even when he was duelling for his Grandpa's soul he wasn't this *intense*.  Fighting for his Grandpa, Yami had been spirited and fought with a fire and passion that had had most of his opponents shaken.  But now he was quiet and still, working methodically on this one task that in his mind took precedence above all others.  

It went without saying that if Yami's suicide attempt was filmed then it was likely that his repeated rape was too, and in Yami's mind that was unacceptable.  Kaiba had made a technical examination of the tape, having been left in the dark about its contents and told only to look for anything that stood out.  It had taken some time to convince Yami to let the brunette go anywhere near the tape and it was finally done with a great deal of animosity reflected in most of the group.  Unfortunately Kaiba was the only person with the resources that they could go to.  However the CEO had announced that it was a standard tape and that the object itself wasn't going to shed any light on whatever it was they were looking for. 

So the magical traces were their only clue.  It was the fact that it might lead them to whoever had sent the damned thing that prevented anyone from destroying it like they wanted to.  Yami became so fixated on his task that he barely moved from the table he had set himself at to pick it apart with his mind, awake for too many hours and taking in only enough food to keep his energy supplies at an acceptable level.  Any attempts to coax him out of their shared room for anything other than his body's physical demands had failed miserably, and after a day of staying with him Yugi had had to step back from him.

Yugi felt helpless all over again and Yami's mental condition seemed to be deteriorating, his face vacant as the Eye of Horus flickered and burned.  His friends had stayed with him whilst his Dark remained reclusive, offering what comfort and support they could.  It was grudgingly agreed by them all that they could do little for Yami until he cracked the mystery of the tape's origins.  They also promised that they would do what they could for Yugi whilst they waited for the stubborn spirit to return to them.  With their telepathic link silent on one end, the Hikari seemed to be suffering almost as badly as his Dark, although it was in a different way.  Yugi needed his guardian and Yami needed his charge but neither was in any condition to help each other.  If anything Yami had seemed to become almost entirely ignorant of his Hikari's existence, so fixated on the tape as he was.

However, a new form of support was hanging in the background if Yugi wanted it, or if Yami gathered enough sanity to reach for it.  Their Grandpa had had to find out in the end, and on the morning of the second day of Yami's obsessive behaviour with the infamous tape, he did.  Of course, he had known that something was wrong for weeks beforehand but as no one came to him and he didn't want to push the matter, he had said nothing.  But after checking on the strangely quiet room several times during the day when Yami was alone to see him working so intensely, he knew that something had changed and not for the better. 

Asking about his unique grandson's withdrawal, Yugi and the group had no choice but to retell the events of the last year, answering the awkward and remarkably painful questions as honestly as they could.  If it were anyone else they would not have given any information without Yami's consent, but it was almost inexcusable for them to have kept this darkest of secrets from Sugoroku for so long, so he had to know.

Sugoroku had reacted as Yugi had predicted: shocked, upset, concerned, but with no haste to confront Yami immediately given the circumstances.  He also felt an almost overwhelming guilt for not being there to offer support when everything had started some months ago, away in America and hundreds of miles away if Yami had ever wanted to confide in him.  However, the eldest Motou had stated that he would continue as if he were still clueless until Yugi told Yami that he was aware, and that the former Pharaoh could approach him if he needed to.  He'd make sure that he was there for him this time.  Joey made it clear that Yami had been damn near neurotic about secrecy concerning everything that was happening, and he did not want anything to upset him further at the moment.  So Sugoroku resigned himself to remaining in the shop whilst Yami and his friends worked through this together, promising that he would offer any help that he could and wishing them luck.

The atmosphere within the Game Shop, and more so the home behind it, rapidly became almost unbearable.  Whilst Yami worked, the group found themselves either hovering uncomfortable inside the sitting room or roaming the city until they returned to try and rouse Yami again.  Bakura was the only one to remain away from the other spirit entirely, hidden away silently inside the Ring almost as reclusive as Yami aside from the harsh responses he gave to his questioning Hikari.

On the third day though, the white-haired spirit of the Ring had emerged without warning from the ring and made his own way to the Game Shop.   Bursting into the house, he had gone upstairs to the bedroom, strode past Yugi and Joey and moved to where Yami sat, grabbing the shorter spirit by the back of his shirt and wrenching him to his feet.  Surprised and outraged, Yami had yelled at him in blind rage before Bakura told the startled mortals to go and leave them alone.  That done, he had then put his fist firmly into Yami's jaw and covered the tape on the table over with a stray shirt.

Ignoring Yami as he recovered from the comparatively mild blow, Bakura sat down on the carpet and started rifling through the bag he had brought with him.  Taking out a large bottle of clear liquid he took a long swallow from the open neck as Yami sat, a slender hand touching his bruising jaw delicately.

"You have been staring at that *bloody* tape for three days now and I for one have had enough of it.  You aren't getting anywhere so you might as well damn well admit it.  Now, drink that and talk to me before I hit you again and make you sleep like you need too instead," Bakura growled out as he thrust the bottle at Yami, glaring at the dark rings that marred the hollows of dull, crimson eyes.  Repeatedly swallowing instinctively due to the burning sensation that the liquor had left in his throat, he was pleased to see Yami wince at the same sensation.

He felt extremely angry with the other.  Bakura had truly felt that Yami had been making progress over the last few weeks, and now with a vicious act on another's part all that good work was withering away.  And Yami was acting like a puppet and going along with it, taking the bait and allowing himself to sink back down to the darkness he had only just began to shed himself of.

Eyeing the bottle in his hand as his throat burned and itched, Yami handed the bottle back with disgust before looking to Bakura.  "Is this salted camel piss?"

"Nope, black-label vodka.  Acquired taste.  It's more about sensation than anything else.  Take a few more swallows and you'll like it, I promise.  Now, you've spoken fuck all over the last couple of days and I'd of thought with that tape sat there you'd need to.  What are you thinking?" he asked outright knowing that there was no point in building up to the purpose of his slowly getting Yami drunk, at least enough to open him up.  

Taking another quick draught, he handed it back again to Yami with some aggression, making it clear that he was *going* to drink.  He needed Yami to talk so that he could start getting his head straight and try to get everything back to some semblance of normalcy.

The sooner Yami stopped obsessing over something that was obviously out of his reach, the sooner he would stop ignoring the support his friends wanted to give to him.  He needed his friends and he couldn't afford to turn them away like this, for his sake as well as theirs.  Bakura could see through Ryou how badly the last few days had impacted Yugi, and being so close to him Joey seemed to be getting slightly pissed at the Dark although his concern overrode his feelings of frustration.  

Honda and Anzu seemed to be unknowing what to do, fluctuating between bitching out Yami for just abandoning his Hikari and friends like this and intense worry for the distressed spirit.  Bakura had made a point to ignore them lest his temper get the better of him and he feel the need to shut them up for eternity.  Ryou was ever sympathetic to all parties, even asking how he was from time to time, which Bakura found peculiar.  He had seen no point in brooding with the others whilst they waited and trying to move Yami when he clearly wasn't ready, and so had stayed in the Ring to think whilst Ryou carried on.  

It had occurred to him quite suddenly and the obviousness of it had made him angry with himself.  Contrary to what everyone thought, leaving Yami to carry on in this way was the cruel thing to do and so someone needed to snap him back to reality.  Upon realizing this, Bakura had grabbed a bottle and decided to be the one to drag him out of his shell.  'As per bloody usual' were his musings as he had walked past Yugi.  He had always had to be the blunt and brutal instrument.  But right now it was being called for.  Again.

Bakura knew that keeping things bottled within the spirit, particularly things with the potential to become self-destructive, was a very stupid thing to do.  And seeing as how Yami was going through a period of temporary insanity fixated around the tape, he wasn't going to get anything off his chest until he was made to.  And with a little teasing out through the aid of strong alcohol, Bakura knew that Yami was going to get drunk enough to talk a lot faster than he was -he had at least eaten today-, which was perfect, as he wanted to be sober enough to listen to him.  

Still, he hadn't taken the vodka just for Yami.  Indeed he needed something to numb himself as he was listening to all of this.  Someone's pain, especially this profound, always had an impact on those around them.  And as the source of this particular pain reflected something from Bakura's past, something that he wanted to forget…  He was likely to keep drinking long after Yami passed out and try to kill those particular memories.

Ignoring the urge to get back to studying the tormenting device sat atop the desk, Yami took another tentative mouthful from the bottle before swirling the contents slowly and gazing down through the glass.  "Honestly I'm frightened.  Kresha, by Ra what he did was bad enough in my head alone.  Now…  I don't know who's going to see it.  Or who hasn't already!"

That was a big admittance on his part and it caused a measurable amount of physical pain to say it, but it also brought some relief to ease his burdens onto another.  He trusted Bakura and he didn't fear for how he was going to take whatever he said to him, or whatever he was going to ramble senselessly in an hour or so when he'd swallowed some more of this, stuff.   

"So you're embarrassed that people are going to see this?" Bakura replied evenly, gesturing up to the tape with an idle hand as the other snapped out and took the bottle back, taking a longer drink this time and then handing it back.  "Is that because it's something so intimate being shown or because it's your violation? Or is your pride acting up again?"  

This was an old method he had used with Yami in talks similar to this over the last few months, chasing him until his mind came to the conclusion on its own.  Where this verbal pursuit would lead he didn't know yet, but he knew that it would help in the end.  Yami would inadvertently let slip some of his darkest thoughts and feelings, which while unintentional in their loss he needed to lose all the same to grant himself some relief.

Yami frowned a little, his slightly fogged mind working around the choices laid out to him.  "I don't think I'm really that embarrassed.  It's more…  I gave in completely.  I let him do what he wanted to me."

Bakura rolled his eyes a little, feigning exasperation.  He had a lot of patience when it came to Yami, his understanding simply granting it to him.  But being gentle about this topic hadn't done a lot so a more straightforward approach was called for.  At least to try.  "For the sake of your Hikari, which we have been over already.  Stop believing that any of that showed weakness on your part.  There aren't many who would sacrifice themselves like that."

"Would you?"  The question passed his lips before he had really given it much thought and Yami instantly regretted it.  'Damned alcohol; loosening my tongue.'  Biting his bottom lip hard by means of a punishment, he didn't let his posture change in any way to show the inadvertency of that question.  Bakura would answer it if he wanted.  If not he would tell him where to go and they would carry on despite it.  He unconsciously handed the bottle back without drinking from it, Bakura taking it from him just as mindlessly.

Bakura looked down thoughtfully through the glass and rippling liquid within, his expression tight and his eyes hard as he thought that over.  He knew that Yami would ask eventually; he'd have to.  And he would give him an honest answer.  

"No."  

He answered the question without looking up; raising the bottle again and taking a long gulp once the words were past him.   "I'd just try for their throat.  But if I couldn't…  Before, I would've, but not now.  Never again."  The last two words were growled out, a resolute and indomitable promise to himself that he would never break.

Yami nodded a little as he frowned at the carpet.  His head seemed to have gotten a little clearer for the moment.  Ducking just inside his line of sight the Puzzle glowed very faintly at him, and Yami swore that if it were a conscious entity it would be cheerful and a bit pleased with itself.  'Bloody thing.  First you don't let me die then you stop me getting drunk,' he thought at it bitterly.  Glancing up at Bakura, the white-haired spirit still gazing through the bottle at the carpet, he noticed that the Ring was also shimmering faintly.  

Sensing that their bodies were going to become sluggish and vulnerable or some bollocks like that, their Items seemed to be counteracting the affects of the alcohol.  This meant that they weren't going to get very drunk without some work.  Yami frowned as that thought crossed his mind.  'I wonder if Bakura has ever felt like this?  Trapped by what was once his prison?'

He didn't have the courage to actually ask but he did raise his eyes to look at the other again properly, as if he were about to.  Bakura interpreted this as something else and shifted so that his elbow was propped up on his knee, the rapidly emptying bottle dangling suspended in mid-air from its neck.  "It was a few years ago," he spoke, answering what he believed to be an unasked question.

He'd never spoken of this properly.  Not to Ryou, not to anyone.  He had just allowed his thoughts on what had happened to boil and fume until they became a veritable defence.  He prided himself on making the worthless into something constructive.  Looking back, he believed that it wasn't perhaps the best approach to tackling the issue, but mutating his grief and agony into hatred and violence had done him some good.  Having a colder heart meant that fewer things in the universe could wound him as deeply.

It wouldn't be the same for Yami though.  It was never the same for anyone.  But he had an understanding of what the former Pharaoh was going through and he knew what the other wanted and needed to hear.  Yami needed now what he had needed back then.

Not looking at Yami directly yet not exactly avoiding his gaze, Bakura reached up into his loose bangs with his free hand and rubbed at his scalp absently.  Yami was willing to listen and for the first time Bakura felt that he was willing to talk about this.  He felt a desire to help Yami through this; no one had exactly been willing to help him.  Making Yami see that it would get better in the end was one of the best things he could do, and he could finally get complete closure on the whole incident if he felt he had helped someone else.

And by talking about it he could perhaps clear his head up enough to actually stay in the real world when a brief flashback hit him, rather than slipping into the Shadow Realm and slaughtering something with his bare hands.

"Malik and I, we had a deal going and we knew his yami wasn't going to be happy about that, so we didn't tell him.  He was pissing me off one night and I slapped him around a bit, just before Yami Malik took over.  He said I needed to learn some respect.  Fucking psycho."

A snarl tugged at Bakura's face as he spoke, the words bringing back the memories and the memories bringing with them a torrent of emotion.  None of it was grief or sadness.  Indeed, all he felt was violation and blind anger.

He was aware that Yami was remaining perfectly still from where he sat in front of him, not moving to offer comfort or a punching bag.  Taking another sip from the bottle, he found himself savouring the burn down his throat, feeling warmth spreading in his belly from where there had only been impenetrable cold before.

"So, he fucked me over good and proper and left me buggered and bleeding in an ally for the rest of the night.  I came-to some time in the morning and stayed in the Shadow Realm for a bit, generally sorting my head out and letting my body heal up."  

Yami said nothing, just watching as Bakura took another drink from the bottle before resuming his former position.  The paler spirit frowned as if in deep thought, going over the past events in his mind carefully, trying to draw something from them with his fogging mind.  

"I got *angry* rather than depressed; figured it was better for me.  Anger's strength and you can fight with that.  Ryou got the worst of that and I nearly went too far one night.  I calmed down a bit after that and just let it all simmer.  It's how I dealt with it.  I don't know if what you're doing is better or worse because our circumstances were completely different.  In the end it's the same I suppose.  I dunno; my head is fucked," Bakura tapered off with a slight shrug, bringing the cool bottle to his forehead and closing his eyes for a few seconds.

Snapping them back open, he glanced at Yami who remained silent before taking another drink from the bottle, noting absently that it didn't burn as much now, before extending it across to the other.  As Yami reached out and curled his fingers around the body of glass, he retained his grip and stared at him meaningfully.  "You're the first person I've told, and you'll be the last.  I think you're better off with more people knowing so they can help you to deal with all this.  I've done what I needed to get on with my life, so no-one needs to know what happened."

He could have asked for or even demanded a verbal acknowledgement and agreement for that statement, but he felt no need to.  Yami knew when to keep quiet and Bakura trusted that this information would go no further, not even to Yami's Hikari.  Finally releasing the bottle, he sat back again and idly readjusted the cord that the Ring hung from around his neck as he watched.  

The metal felt warmer than usual again his flesh through the shirt and he could feel faint traces of magic filtering directly into his Soul room from it.  He'd likely need to finish that bottle-if they didn't together which was highly likely-or get a new one to down so that he could sleep soundly tonight.  There was a gentle brush across the link he shared with Ryou as his Hikari reminded him of his existence, but there were no words.  His Hikari knew when to leave him alone.  He had learned a long time ago not to continue to pester him when he was being ignored.

'No one else would know even if you hadn't told me to stay quiet' Yami thought at Bakura as he raised the bottle.  He wouldn't say it aloud as that was already known and so didn't need to be said.  Bakura obviously wanted to make sure that it was very clear that this was between them and only them.

Pondering how Ryou knew about the whole damned thing if Bakura hadn't told him, which he evidently hadn't, Yami propped his arm onto his knee so that his posture was similar to Bakura's as he brought the neck to his mouth.  Just as the warm rim of the neck came to be level with his chin, Yami's mind suddenly started snapping ostensibly random words together.  It was as if a switch had been flipped and now his mind was putting together some unknown pieces as quickly as possible.  It was like word association without any active thought on his part.  

'No one knowing, knowing, mortals, knowing…'

The vodka had just started to make a new sizzling path down his throat when all the pieces *clicked*.  'The other duellists-at the registration office-their faces…' Coughing as he inhaled with wide eyes, he vaguely felt Bakura take the bottle from him and start slamming a fist between his shoulder blades as his mind scrambled through a flurry of thoughts.  Breathing heavily, both from the noxious fluid that had threatened to drown him and the shock of his realization, Yami stared up at Bakura with large eyes set in a pale face.

Sensing that something important had happened and that Yami had not just started choking for no reason, Bakura frowned down at him from where he stood.  "What?  Tape calling to you?"

"They know," Yami replied quietly as if saying it aloud had made the knowledge concrete, standing on shaking legs like a new-born dear and placing a hand on the table to support himself.  His nose crinkling as he frowned, he glared down at the covered tape before snapping his head around to face Bakura who was watching him intently, his slightly hazed mind trying to figure *who* exactly knew *what*.  

"They *bloody* know."  

"Yami, what-"

"At the registration office a few days ago, the other duellists, they were staring at me strangely.  I thought I was just being paranoid but they fucking *know*!  Someone's doing this.  Whoever sent the tape is showing it to other people.  Ra, what am I going to do?"  

One hand had mindlessly gone to the scar on his shoulder as the other fisted at his forehead as he finished the words, crimson eyes clamping shut as the enormity of the situation hit him.  

"Ra, people know.  I can't go outside anymore; too many know.  Hell, it could be one of *them* doing this to me...  And now with the Tournament…" 

Before Yami's thoughts could take him any further, strong hands moved to his forearms and pried his physical shield away from him.  Careful not to close in against him with his chest or face just yet, the other spirit made sure not to curl his fingers anywhere near Yami's wrists.  That would be too much like manacles or bindings.  But even as careful as he was being, Bakura wasn't going to let him hide this time.  He wasn't going to let him hide from the world.

"Yami," the paler spirit began, finally lowering his face so that his eyes were level with Yami's, not that the other spirit seemed to have any intention of opening them any time soon.  As it was the trembling other was struggling meekly against his grip.  

Despite his wiry frame Yami was still quite strong.  Bakura was stronger of course, years of struggle ensuring strength to fight or to bolt, but he was still finding it difficult to pray Yami's arms away from him.  He had to be careful too; he couldn't make this feel like an attack or restraint.  Repeating his name a second time, he was relieved to feel some of the resistance against him go.  Not all of it as Yami was still far too anxious to be anywhere near relaxed, but enough for Bakura to force open the shield to a satisfactory degree.

"Yami, I- shit, I get that this is hard for you, but it'll be alright.  I'm going to help you- me, your Hikari, the Wonder-Pup and everyone else, so you're not on your own with this one.  And I *swear* that I will find whoever is doing this and make them *beg* me for death.  Now look at me and tell me that you're going to be strong.  If you hide away now it's going to slowly destroy you, that I promise you now," Bakura said firmly, his grip not lessening in the slightest despite the fact that Yami had ceased struggling entirely partway through those words.

His eyes finally opened and met Bakura's uncertainly, doubt and fear lurking in their depths.  He couldn't make a promise like that; he wasn't strong enough.  

"You're friends will lend you strength, if you *let* them," Bakura added as if sensing Yami's doubts.  He waited long seconds until Yami nodded slightly before grunting his approval and stepping back slightly.  Yami couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow minutely at the change in attitude.  It was on extremely rare occasions that Bakura acted this considerate and the Tomb Raider was obviously feeling a little uncomfortable about it.

Bakura's hands lingered uncertainly for a few moments about his forearms, something that Yami was surprised to acknowledge he wasn't overly bothered about, before he returned them to his sides.  Looking around in a somewhat awkward manner, Bakura reached towards the desk and picked up the Vodka bottle and the tape still bundled in the shirt, holding both in Yami's plain sight as he stared silently.

"I'm going to take these with me, and I'm going to talk to Yugi and Joey.  Honda and the bitch can piss off if they think I'm telling them anything myself though.  I think you've had enough drink for tonight and I'm not letting this fucking thing stay in this house with you for another night.  I'll come by tomorrow morning after the Ring sorts out my hangover and we'll do some more meditation, alright?" 

Yami met the cool gaze and gave a bare perceptible nod before turning his eyes down to the heavy weight about his neck.  Reaching a hand up, he fingered the pointed tip of the bottom of the Puzzle idly, waiting for Bakura to continue speaking or leave.  His eyes snapped to the bundle of clothing under Bakura's arm briefly and his jaw tightened.  He wanted the tape to stay with him until he could figure it out.  He almost needed it to stay, but Bakura was adamant that taking it away was better for him.  And whatever Bakura wanted he usually got in the end.  If it was anyone else taking the only clue to all of this that he had he would fight for it tooth and nail.  But he wouldn't win against Bakura so there was no point in trying.

Deciding that he couldn't do much else tonight whilst Yami absorbed this new revelation, Bakura dropped the bundled-cassette into his bag and screwed the cap back onto the bottle before putting that in too.  Standing with the strap over one shoulder, he regarded Yami who had yet to move thoughtfully before turning and striding out of the room.  He had a hand on the doorframe when he glanced back for a second, in doing so taking in Yami's tired and pale features as he stood in exactly the same position he had left him in.  Feeling a sharp swell of compassion flood through him, Bakura resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his own behaviour before returning to his former position opposite Yami and raising a hand slowly to the other's temple.

Yami looked up at him silently, his mind ceasing from turning and twisting the new realisation for a moment in curiosity, although his body still felt like it was full of water and cotton wool.  Bakura seemed to think for a moment before making his offer, speaking in as soft tones as he could manage. 

"Would you rather me knock you out so you can sleep tonight?"

Bakura didn't want to push that offer, as it would mean Yami having to put a tremendous amount of trust in him, and with the other spirit's emotions so tumultuous that could prove impossible.  He knew that Yami trusted him but emotions were without thought or logic and had a dandy habit of getting in the way at times.  If Yami feared that he would do something to him, even in the most irrational part of his mind, whilst he slept, then this wouldn't work.

Yami didn't even consider the vulnerability he would be bestowing upon himself, only seeing the escape that this action would grant him, nodding sharply immediately before murmuring a thanks.  He felt drained, physically and emotionally, and wanted nothing more than sleep at the moment.  Blinking in mild astonishment, Bakura suppressed any other outward signs of his surprise at the acceptance to his offer and shifted the strap on his shoulder to free his arm more.

Not bothering to undress, Yami lowered himself onto the bed over the covers and watched as Bakura moved to stand over him.  A slender hand came to his forehead and pressure was applied through the pads of Bakura's fingers before the flesh became warm.  Magic coiled in a light haze about the tips of the Tomb Raider's fingers and trickled into the aura of the other spirit, lazily spreading over the tense body. The comforting feeling swept through Yami like honey, viscous and warm, stealing away his strength as it passed over and through him.  There were a few seconds when he felt the sickeningly awful sensation of falling before blackness wiped away all thought and he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Retracting his hand from Yami's cool skin, Bakura stood watching in silence before shaking his head slightly to clear his mind.  Scowling at the warm light leaking in through the window, he snapped out a hand and drew the curtains closed, blocking out the sight of the slowly setting sun and leaving the room in warm darkness.  Taking a final glance about the shadows, Bakura turned on his heel and strode out with silent footsteps.  Catching sight of Sugoroku leaving another room at the end of the hallway, he stared at him firmly as he closed the door behind him.  The elder man nodded slightly, his expression unreadable, before moving towards the stairs. 

Bakura hesitated a few seconds before he started down the stairs himself, and with a slightly annoyed sigh relented to Ryou's cautious mental nudges by removing the barriers he had erected against him.  Concern and curiosity were the first and only things he registered, not intending to bother sifting through the different thoughts and feelings flowing into his mind from his lighter half.  Walking into the living room where Yugi, Joey and Ryou were sat, Bakura resigned himself to staying for a little while longer before leaving to drink himself into oblivion.  He dimly heard sounds in the kitchen and so presumed that the eldest Motou had gone in there.  He fleetingly considered going out and saying something to him, but he had no idea what he could say or if he was even the right person to say it.  That and the fact that the smell of vodka on his breathe wasn't going to be very reassuring.

After getting over the necessary task of telling the three teens about the tape's exposure and partially answering their questions concerning Yami's 'condition', Bakura rested his head back against the back of the chair and closed his eyes with a barely audible sigh.  Joey and Yugi started to talk between themselves, the topic of which was easy to guess but the words spoken so quietly that they were unclear.  Ryou sat silently with his soft eyes fixed on his yami.

//Yami?// he pressed gently, sensing the tiredness leaking off the spirit's aura.

//What is it Ryou?//  The reply was not as brusque as he had intended it to be, weariness taking the edge off his tone.  That meant that his Hikari would now have more confidence to ask him whatever he wanted.  Bakura wasn't entirely sure what he thought about that but decided that Ryou knew what not to say and when to stop so he wasn't going to make him angry.

//I just wanted to make sure you're alright// came the reply in soft tones, some hesitancy underlying the words.

//Just peachy.  But Yami's seriously fucked up at the moment and I've got a feeling it's going to get worse before it gets better.//

//Please remember that you are not looking after him on your own, Yami.  I don't want to see you get hurt over all of this.//

Bakura's eyes snapped open and he raised his head to stare in mild surprise and anger at his Hikari from where he sat, the fact that Ryou knew more than he had originally let on about his own assault.  He had believed that his Hikari just knew that it happened and no more than that, but the way he was speaking now gave reason to believe that he knew things that he shouldn't.  

//You and I are going to have a long talk when we get home// he stated firmly after a few seconds.

Ryou nodded slightly as he bit his lower lip.  He didn't want to speculate on how that conversation was going to go, but he was worried about Bakura as well as Yami and Yugi at the moment.  He wanted his yami to know that he was offering his support for what had happened to him, and he finally had come up with the courage to tell Bakura that he seen some of the memories.  

It had been some weeks ago, possibly because of everything that had been happening at the time, but it was clear that they had not been mere dreams from his yami.  Bakura obviously wanted those memories left unknown and unseen, and now that Ryou had seen them as well as knew about what had happened, they needed to talk about it.  And he also wanted to make sure that Bakura's intimate knowledge of this type of situation wasn't going to make things harder for Yami instead of better.

//You're not pushing him too fast, are you?  He's not as strong as you and if you try to help him recover too fast he might not be able to take it.//

//Damnit Ryou I know what I'm doing!  I've done this before and I know that the sooner he gets his head back together the sooner he'll be more-//

//- resilient?  Stronger?  Less defenceless?  Yami, he has us to help him.  He doesn't need to rely solely upon himself and his own strength.  I am sorry that you had to and I wish that you had told me so that I could do something to help, but the fact that you didn't means that you had a completely different experience to what Yami-Yugi is having now.//

Bakura opened his mouth to respond to that with sharp words but snapped his jaw shut again instead.  It wasn't often that Ryou stood up to him about anything, so when he did it meant that he truly believed in what he was saying and that meant that it was usually worth listening to.  He'd think over his Hikari's words rather than snap over them.  

Deciding that it was time to leave, he picked up the bag as he stood and said nothing as he strode out of the house, leaving Ryou to blink at his retreating back.  After a few moments of silence down the bond, Ryou breathed a sigh of relief in the knowledge that his yami was going to think about what he had said instead of discarding his words.  He had been worried about this ever since Bakura started getting so involved with Yami.  It didn't bother him, in fact he was pleased that Bakura felt so passionate about helping the other guardian.  He was just concerned that this was going to make some old memories that Bakura didn't want to think about resurface.

But there was little he could do about that for the moment.  He would talk to his yami and keep a careful eye on the situation.  Yugi was worrying himself sick over Yami and Ryou didn't want to see his own yami adversely affected whilst helping.  Bakura was his priority and he didn't want him to get hurt.  

****

Leave criticism, praise and general comments in the review box please. ;p


	6. Chapter 6

Yes, this one took a while but it's here now so I hope you enjoy it and leave me a lovely, detailed review at the end.  Chapter 7 is going to take a long time.  It'll be the easiest chapter to write so far in this fiction I believe, but exams are looming and I should *really* start revising within the next few days.  So I'll have squat time to write, but I shall endeavour to do so and keep up the level of quality.  A great thanks goes to my Beta Ayod Botla once again, for without her this fiction would be a lot crapper.

Read, enjoy and review!

Domination: Chapter 6

"Sink into yourself.  It's just us here now, no outside concerns.  Let your mind float but don't let it fix on anything in particular.  We're not here to analyse anything right now.  Just drifting."

Feeling refreshed from his somewhat forced slumber, Yami clenched his eyes a little in an attempt to follow these instructions before forcing himself to relax again.  It was difficult.  There were too many things to be thought about at the moment and allowing his mind to drift about from random thought to random thought wasn't going to help anything.  He needed to get all this crap sorted out before anything else could happen.  He needed to start putting his life back together.  And he wanted that damn tape back.  

But he felt he could put all that on hold for an hour or so despite their constantly looming presence.  He trusted Bakura, and if he thought that this 'session' was going to be of some benefit to him then he'd listen and follow obligingly. 

It was early.  The house was completely silent, Yugi having gone to sleep after worrying restlessly once again in another room; and Grandpa still some minutes away from rising to open the shop.  It was because of this- and generally because he enjoyed playing stealth- that Bakura had entered through the window and roused Yami slowly so as not to startle him unnecessarily, settling himself on the carpet whilst he waited for Yami to join him.  

He'd left Ryou alone at home, either asleep or awake: he didn't really care.  He was still feeling bitter about their conversation the night before.  It was not embarrassment by any means that Ryou had seen his own attack; just a general sourness that his Hikari had known and kept it to himself for months.

But their 'chat' had at least one positive point that he could see immediately (not a long-term one like Ryou kept prattling on about with openness and shite); he'd given today's lesson more thought than he usually would have.  That was mostly due to the fact that Yami's mind was in a very fragile state at the moment and he needed to proceed cautiously, but also because he'd been outright lectured by his daring Hikari to not push Yami too hard lest he snap completely.  And now Bakura couldn't be sure if he hadn't already pushed him too hard.  He didn't like this new feeling of concern over his actions and words to Yami since all of this started. 

A muscle twitching as he realized that he was doing exactly what he had told Yami *not* to do, Bakura opened his eyes a fraction to make sure that Yami was properly relaxed before closing them again.  Taking a steadying breath, he gathered his thoughts to begin.  

"You're still having nightmares and flashbacks, seeing things that you don't want to but are being pushed at you by your mind because they need acknowledging.  There's something you haven't thought about or accepted in what your seeing, and if you make yourself actually look at them you'll start having an easier time with them and soon they'll stop recurring altogether.  You need to have some strength to do this, and I know you do so don't argue with me over that."  

Yami cracked one eye open slightly, staring at Bakura whose eyes remained firmly closed as he sent him a mental scowl.  Closing it again, he resettled himself to take in what Bakura was telling him.  He was confused though.  He had expected to have been pulled into the Shadow Realm by now but they were still in the room, sitting cross-legged on the stubbly carpet.  Resigning himself to ask about that later, Yami returned his attention to Bakura's words.  He suspected that Bakura knew that he had looked around as he had stopped speaking, waiting with a surprising amount of patience for him to 'immerse' again, or whatever Bakura actually meant by that.

"I can't help you with this so you're on your own in that respect, but remember you can go to someone if you're having trouble.  An outside perspective will do more good than harm," Bakura continued smoothly after a few moments.  A thought occurred to him, spawning from one of the many things that Ryou had said to him last night and seeing no harm in relaying it, Bakura continued.  "You do know that other people are here to help you, right?"

Snapping open his eyes instantly broke the 'trance' Yami had fallen into and the spirit sat frozen, waiting anxiously for the other to expand upon that inquiry.  Was Bakura getting tired of helping him?  Had he become little more than an annoyance to him?  He dearly hoped not; he needed all the help he could get at this point.

Having not received an answer to his question, Bakura opened his own eyes and was unsurprised to find Yami staring at him.  Sighing slightly as he saw the discomfort he had brought about through his inappropriate bluntness, he tipped his head to the side and met Yami's gaze firmly.

"I'm not trying to ditch you here so don't even start thinking along that avenue.  All I'm saying is that other people want to offer their support and at the moment the only one you really seem to be turning to is me, and I'm not always going to be around.  You got really close to Joey at first, and I'm a little surprised that you're not still talking to him considering how much he helped you.  And then there's your Hikari whose misery is bloody tangible because you're trying to cut yourself off from him.  I'm not criticising you; I did the same thing, it's just that you don't *need* to."

"Yes, I do," Yami cut in before Bakura could carry on, his formerly relaxed hands now balling into fists.  "He needs to be kept away from all of this."

"*Why*?    To keep him out of harm's way?  To preserve the image he's conjured up of you?  To protect his bleedin' innocence and purity?  Yami, you don't have to!  He wandered round Duellist Kingdom for his Grandfather and we both remember what that was like.  He faced up to Pegasus and overcame him, heck; he's even gone into a virtual reality to save his nemesis.  I think it's safe to say that he's tougher than you seem to think."

Yami shook his head a little, not disagreeing with any of those points but still clinging to his priority, which was to act at Yugi's guardian.  He tried a different tactic, touching on something that was a bit closer to the truth.  "I don't want him upset over me."

It was true; he didn't.  He didn't want to put his Hikari through any more heartache than was necessary, and in the back of his mind he still felt filthy, felt like something not worthy of being worried over.  But he'd had the lecture about that one already so there was no point in bringing that up again, even if the original talk had done little to help his feelings.

Quirking a brow at that last statement, Bakura smiled a little.  "I don't think you've got a lot of choice about whether he's upset or not, and as it is you're hurting him more by pushing him away.  His imagination is probably doing utterly *wonderful* things to his worries over you."  A pause, mostly for dramatic emphasis Bakura noted idly.  "Talk to him."

"About what?"

"I don't bloody know, anything!  You don't talk to him anymore and it used to be that we could never shut you two up.  Ask how he's doing, if everything with the shop is all right, what he thinks of the bleedin' weather even.  Just see where you end up.  Don't jump into anything serious straight away though, because it'll just put too much stress on the both of you and make things more, 'charged'."

'My first mistake,' Bakura added to himself.  The conversation he had had with his Hikari had swung from outright arguing to terse confessions and the entire experience had been exhausting.  It helped though; they were both a little easier around each other now.  Ryou felt more comfortable knowing that his yami wasn't keeping secrets again and Bakura felt like he'd gained someone on 'his side'.  Ryou had a bit more of an understanding of him and although there was now a good opportunity for blackmailing, it put him at ease.  

Yami turned those words over in his head a few times before nodding slightly.  "I'll talk to him.  Later, when I think I can face him."

"That's good enough.  I think we've shot today's meditation idea to shit, by the way."

 "I agree."  Hesitating as he debated whether or not to ask the two questions which had been hovering in the back of his mind, Yami stared down at his hands.  Quirking a brow when he saw that the scars running across his knuckles had faded significantly, he wondered when they had started healing so rapidly and if the other marks were whitening like this.  He didn't like to look at them, didn't like the reminder, which was ironically one of the reasons he made them in the first place.  It was doubtful that they'd started to turn pale though; they were significantly deeper than the marks on his knuckles had been.  

"Why aren't we in the Shadow Realm?" he asked, breaking the silence like shattering glass.  He'd decided that he might as well get *some* peace of mind this morning, and getting answers to his questions seemed like the best way to go about it.  Bakura looked up, broken out of his own silent musings by the bold question.  

"Because I didn't move us there."  At the light scowl he continued.  "I don't want you to start hiding there from the real world.  It's more dangerous in there for your mind than it is out here.  None of us need you to go completely insane on top of everything else."

That was fine.  He could understand that.  Bakura seemed to be trying to lighten the mood with light sarcasm, something that he had grudgingly realised he had started to miss.  Everything had gotten dour and serious recently, which was primarily his fault, but it didn't mean it had to stay that way.  He could see now how bad he'd been over the last few days and how seriously things needed to change.  It had taken rather a lot of alcohol and a dawn-conversation but Yami had figured out that he needed to start taking control again.  He was still afraid, still hurting, but he had to start getting his head together at some point even if it only meant talking to his Hikari and obsessing less over the tape.  Which brought him to his next question.

"Where's the tape?  What did you do with it?"

"I left it with Ryou and I didn't do anything with it.  I agree with you though; there is something on it but there's a spell covering it so I can't figure it out either.  Therefore: there's no reason for you to go back to staring at it again.  As loath I am to say it; at this rate, the only way we're going to find out who sent the damn thing is if they choose to be found out."  Bakura knew that that wasn't exactly what Yami wanted to hear at the moment but it was the truth as he could see it and there was little that either of them could do about it.

Yami nodded slightly to his acknowledge that statement and the look he was getting that warned him to not bother trying to take the tape back.  Bakura likely had it under lock and key, or sat innocently in the basement with a monster card and short-term spell on top of it.  He wouldn't put that past the Tomb Robber who sat before him in stony silence.

So he had little to do today, meaning that he could sit down with Yugi and talk to him.  Much as he wanted to do that –he knew that it was direly needed-, tiredness from the last few days still clung to him.  The few hours of induced rest that he'd received with Bakura's help last night had helped but not enough for his head to stop pounding and his muscles to stop aching.  He didn't want to have what promised to be an exhausting heart-to-heart with Yugi in this condition; it was doubtful it would do a great deal to help either of them.

Reaching out for a few seconds, he sensed that Yugi wasn't in the house.  Worry was fleeting though and he blinked in surprise when he 'found' Yugi at Ryou's house.  He could sleep for a little while this morning and feel refreshed to talk to his Hikari later.  

 "Ryou's talking to Yugi so I'm going to agree with you and say that you get some sleep before he comes back."  A slight smirk.  "You think you an handle that?"

"I think I'll manage.  It's too early for Vodka so I'll try the old fashioned way," he replied smoothly, rising to his feet to see the other out.  Bakura followed the action, walking through the body of the house in silence and then pausing at the door leading out of the kitchen, Yami stood at his shoulder with a hand resting idly on the wood.  The former Pharaoh squinted slightly in the obtrusive light that seemed far brighter than he remembered it being.  He hadn't been out of the house in four days now, so it seemed natural to be experiencing some discomfort.

"Good luck. I'll talk to you tomorrow," the white-haired spirit said genuinely, softly, before walking out completely and leaving Yami to close the door behind him.  Yami watched the other leave for a few moments before he could stand the natural light no longer, turning away and shoving the door shut behind his back.  

Scrubbing a hand over his face as he tried to figure out the last few minutes, he crossed an arm around his waist and settled for contemplating what he was going to do now.  The bright, cold sunlight had made him prickle with restlessness and despite needing sleep he was very aware that it was very unlikely he'd get any now.

Groaning a little as the pounding in his temples increased a notch; Yami dug his fingers into his hair and exhaled slowly in exasperation.  Bringing his head up again, he snapped his eyes to the item that seemed out of place on the table.  It was a small, cylindrical pot, presumably made out of some plastic, and Yami picked it up to free the slip of paper beneath it.

_Heard you'd been having trouble sleeping.  Try these if it keeps up. Hope you start feeling better soon._

Honda 

Frowning a little as he set about unscrewing the cap, Yami tipped out the contents into his hand and eyed the four white pills suspiciously before checking the label.  'Sleeping tablets'.  Replacing the container on the note whilst still holding the pills, Yami pulled out a chair and took a seat at the table.

Honda wouldn't have left these if they were unsafe, and he doubted that anyone had planted them in the house; he would have sensed it, and if not Bakura definitely would have.  He couldn't sleep well and he definitely needed to; tiredness was wearing away at him and he needed to feel more invigorated when he talked to Yugi later.

Decision made, Yami swallowed heavily before bringing his hand to his mouth sharply and tipping his head back.  He'd seen Yugi do this a dozen times in the past, but that hadn't prepared him for the digging sensation in his throat and the chalky taste in his mouth.  Swallowing despite it all, he sat patiently working more saliva down his throat to move the pill that felt stuck there, waiting for the effects to kick in.  He planned to move when he started to feel drowsy and collapse into bed for a few hours.

He didn't expect the complete loss of feeling throughout his body for a few brief seconds prior to oblivion capturing him entirely before he could even feel alarmed at the sensations.  Arms buckling as his weight moved forward onto the table, his eyes rolled back and he slipped into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

****

"- and I just don't know what do to.  He's my yami and I want to take care of him the way he takes care of me, but he just won't let me," Yugi finished tiredly, his head resting in his hands as he dragged his eyes up from the carpet to look at the soft-spoken boy beside him. 

Ryou tipped his head to the side as he thought about what he'd just heard over the last half hour.  Yugi had been upset when he arrived; desperately wanting to get all of these worries and frustrations out into the open.  Everyone seemed so preoccupied with Yami –not that he didn't need the attention at the moment-, Yugi felt almost neglected.  It was the other half of his soul that was being tormented and that was having a rather negative impact on him.  Ryou tended to always be a step back from the group, and having some sort of experience with this situation, he seemed to be the best person to talk to.

And Ryou was happy to be able to help.  Talking to his own yami so intensely last night had opened Ryou's eyes to a few things, and now sat in his living room with Yugi, it seemed a good time to share them.  He didn't know quite what the other Hikari wanted to hear, but he wanted to offer words of comfort as well as advice.  He could plainly see that he and Yami desperately needed to talk at least some of this through, but with Yami obsessing and Yugi thoroughly miserable, it didn't look like that was going to be happening any time soon.

 "Our yamis are very proud people, Yugi.  They want to be strong against everything and don't like showing weakness.  Your yami wants to protect you more than anything, but I think he's still feeling ashamed.  Adding to that the fact that he still blames himself for what's happening, feels guilty about how this is all affecting you and is generally miserable…" he trailed off uncertainly, not sure that Yugi wanted or needed to hear the end of those words.  

To put it simply: Yami and Yugi were both depressed for similar reasons; Yami for being supposedly 'too weak' to cope with what was happening and neglecting his duties as guardian; and Yugi for not being able to do anything to help Yami cope and being neglected as a charge.  And until something gave they were stuck like this.

Yugi nodded, absorbing what he already knew and had heard in various forms from various people over the last few days.  It came down to one thing at the very end though.  "I miss him.  I miss my yami and I don't know how to get him back.  And everything's just getting worse and I don't see how he can come back from all of this."

Ryou steepled his fingers considering, brow furrowed in deliberation.  His words started slowly and cautiously, thoughts forming as he spoke.  "To be quite honest Yugi, I don't think Yami's ever going to come 'back', not the way he used to be anyway.  This will-*is* changing him, and it'll make him stronger in the end."

"If there is going to be an end," Yugi murmured bitterly.  "It's all just getting worse, and-"

"-And there is little that you can do about it but be there for each other.  He's protecting you fiercely at the moment; everyone seems to think that he's just cutting you off out of selfishness, but he's distancing you."

 "He told me that," Yugi said quietly.  "And then I told him that he was hurting me more by shutting me out.  He didn't listen."

"He did, he just chose to ignore it for what he believed to be your sake," Ryou interjected firmly before Yugi could continue.  "Bakura thinks, and I agree, that you two should sit down and talk to each other.  Properly.  Without interruptions and actually make each other understand, because that seems to be the main problem here."

Yugi nodded, seeing the wisdom in those words.  Glancing about the room, he spotted the clock on the wall and practically jumped to his feet.  "I've gotta go.  Yami should be up soon.  I'm going to do what you said and clear some of this up.  Thank you Ryou."

The other teen smiled and tipped his head slightly at the gratitude he was being shown.  "I'll walk you back," he offered on impulse, rising smoothly to his feet and walking towards the door, opening it to the bright sunshine.  Yugi walked into it gladly with Ryou immediately behind him.  

****

It was like he was drowning again, except in a far more pleasant and less life-threatening way.  The easy floating sensation was the same, as was the light-headedness and laxness in his muscles.  The darkness was inviting rather than insidious, soothing and empty, emanating a freeness and security in its promise of being entirely free of menace.  It was tranquil; a drug-assisted sleep that Yami was averse to leaving.

A sudden, dull weight across his hips and abdomen jerked the world he was drifting through, sensation returning in sluggish drabs.  He was led down now, a soft surface beneath him and he could tell without opening his eyes that it was dark in the room.  The weight on him was little more than irritating in his fogged mind, and he lifted an arm to bat it away.

Only he couldn't lift his arm.  He could move his hands but his arms were pinned to what he was lying on, the muscles in his upper arms effectively restrained.  Curiosity and mild alarm allowed him to dredge up the strength necessary to open his eyes, and when he did he sincerely wished he hadn't.

Breath caught and body rigid, Yami could only stare into the same smouldering eyes and cruel smile that had haunted him, now inches from his face.  Weight resting easily on the smaller teen, Kresha stared right back.

****

And now you review. ;p


	7. Chapter 7

I'll put the A/Ns at the end because I doubt anyone will read them now after the last cliffy.  Enjoy, and sorry for the delay!

**Domination: Chapter 7**

The older man reached up a single hand, running coarse fingers down the side of Yami's face.  The digits dragged down slowly, neatly moving the collar of his shirt to expose the bite-scar.  Almost tenderly, Kresha stroked it as if reminding himself of his handiwork and Yami inhaled sharply as a result of the contact.  Paralysed with shock and fear, the spirit missed the opportunity to use his temporarily freed hand against his suddenly returned abuser, Kresha replacing his grip about his forearm once he had finished his tactile exploration of his face and shoulders.  The touches had left his skin buzzing and brought up the acidic taste of bile into Yami's mouth. ****

This wasn't possible?  Kresha was *dead*.  Kaiba had shot him.  He was gone.  He couldn't come back ever again.  This was just another twisted nightmare; just harsher and realer and more terrifying than usual.  He'd wake up soon and this wouldn't be happening.  He wouldn't be feeling himself being forced into submission like this in his own home.  He'd promised himself never again.  Kresha was dead and this *wasn't* real.

But he'd never seen a body; he'd never had the reassurance of knowing with absolute certainty that he was really gone, and Kaiba may have been lying to him.  But that didn't mean that what was now leering, touching, and resting on him was real.  There was no other explanation if it really was Kresha, and the universe could not be this cruel to him again.  But it felt so damn real; too real; sickening and cold.

Yami squirmed desperately as Kresha leant forward against him with an agonizing slowness, hips grinding sickeningly against his own as a result of the movement.  Cheek to cheek now, Yami clenched his eyes shut and his jaw tight when he felt warm breath slithering across his skin.  The sensation of it made him want nothing more than to curl up and never unwind again. 

The slighter body shifted as Kresha moved his head to the side, the tip of his nose brushing over Yami's collarbone before his mouth covered the mark he had touched earlier, teeth sinking into the old indents gently, perfectly.  An involuntary shudder wracked Yami's form at that.  Stomach turning leaden and twisting horribly, the urge to retch became unimaginably stronger.

"I missed you." ****

Yami almost sobbed when he heard that but managed to remain silent, barely breathing and trembling more than he could help.  He couldn't believe that this was happening again, but the weight atop his body and the breath against his shoulder were damning evidence that it was indeed happening again. ****

Shutting off his perception of the sensations through force of will, he felt himself gradually turning colder from the outside inwards, reverting to a state where he could see through Kresha rather than at him and become immune to what he was doing to him.  

Kresha didn't seem to notice the wide, blank eyes or the frozen, lax expression.  Yami was still withdrawing though, so the light touches that moved down his trembling chest to his slight waist still caused his hands to jerk and the muscles about his eyes to twitch.  Retreating further into his mind, Yami didn't even try to hide his reactions.

"I didn't imagine that you'd be *this* pathetic, Little Pharaoh, cowering and snivelling before scampering off into your mind.  You really are pitiful."  

The voice that drawled those words was a new one to the room, but also very familiar.  It was enough to snag Yami's attention and he plummeted back into awareness as he snapped his head to the side, away from Kresha's, to find the source.  His eyes widened when he found it.

Silhouetted against the dusk light seeping in through the window, Yami Malik's form was illuminated almost solely by the glow of the Millennium Rod, the Item held out to the figures on the bed.   Amethyst eyes sent languid shadows shifting across his cheeks and through his lifted hair, contracted pupils barely visible through the glow.

Magic thrummed around him, flaring out in a wave after a few moments as if to demonstrate that he was, in all actuality, real.  It was the same magic that had smouldered about the tape.   It had been covered by a spell to make it less tangible, but the two were undoubtedly identical.  The strength of it that was steadily buttressing inside the room nudged at the edges of the long cloth draped back over Yami Malik's shoulders, the thick material of his cape catching at his ankles before lashing back when the power emanating from his body forced it away.

Before Yami could speak a word Yami Malik stepped towards him, the Rod still lifted against him.  His thumb came up to run against the blade of one of the wing tips, an idle action that he made repeatedly as he spoke.  

"But I can see how you wouldn't want to be taken by this pitiful excuse for a mortal again."  Yami Malik snorted in contempt.  "He's not very appealing," he finished, a smirk forming on his face.  

His eyes narrowed as he snapped the Rod about his hand in one smooth movement, the illusion disintegrating immediately whilst he unsheathed the hidden blade.   Yami jerked impulsively to sit up and bolt away from him as soon as the image was gone, but Yami Malikwas faster and moved the end of the Rod towards him, the sheath held tightly in his free hand before being tucked behind him beneath his cloak.  The tip of the blade now under Yami's jaw, Yami Malik emphasised its presence by nudging it lightly, breaking the tanned flesh and releasing a rivulet of blood.

Yami tipped his head back from the blade instinctively, leaning back down on the bed when the tip of the blade was pushed against his throat to avoid getting himself impaled.  There was little he could do in this position; particularly as he was still reeling from the illusion of his tormentor, and his sudden disappearance.  Where it had been tingled as an after-effect, both from the magic and from his need to scrub himself clean.  

"But he did take you, and more than once too, you whore. I think you need to be reminded of that."   

"You-how-what..?"  Thoughts scrambled from shock and with too many questions and accusations trying to dominate, Yami was finding it exceptionally hard to get a cohesive sentence out of his mouth.  Finally he settled on something simple.

"You bastard!   What the hell have you done?" Yami demanded finally, ignoring the blade pressing against his throat despite leaning back from it.  His next words caught though as he saw *himself***** fall backwards through Yami Malik, landing in his chest with wide, horrified eyes.  

Yami Malik's smile became broader as he concentrated on the illusions.  Eyes wide and bright, a steady cackle started forming, steadily becoming louder and higher in pitch as the blade dug a little deeper into his prisoner's throat.****

Guiding Yami up and off the bed with the blade nicking at his skin, he walked him across the room just as the Kresha illusion returned, straddling the other illusion and pinning its arms above its head.  Reaching a hand to the side, a cord was produced which the Kresha apparition used to tether the illusion Yami's wrists together.

"You'll have a better view from here.  This is the third time it happened, if you had forgotten," Yami Malik informed helpfully, lowering the blade with Yami as he sunk to his knees against the wall.  Yami had valiantly tried to remain standing even as shock and horror stole away his strength; he didn't want to show weakness and especially not in front of the one holding the blade to him.  But it was too much.

He tore his eyes away and clenched them shut when the echo of himself gave a pained shriek as what was to be the bite-scar on his shoulder was made.  He couldn't stand this much longer.  He wanted to get away, he wanted to find Yugi and be safe with him, he wanted to find Bakura and punch him for not being here to help.  But neither of them were there, and he had no way of knowing if Yami Malik hadn't done something to them already. 

Finding his voice, Yami shouted out the question over the noises.  "Where are my friends?  What have you done with them?"

Looking down, Yami Malik frowned when he saw the Yami was looking away from his display.  Crouching down so that he was eye to closed-eye with him, he drew the blade down to force the crimson ones open.  "They're right here.  They can't see us or each other, but they can see them," he answered quietly, tipping his head towards the bed.  "They're watching."

Those two words sent a cold bolt down through Yami's body, one that settled in his stomach and sent numbness outwards throughout him.  They couldn't be.  That was…  too much to even think of.  They couldn't see this, not when he couldn't bear to watch it himself.  He needed his friends desperately right now, but if they saw this atrocity…   Facing them when they knew the barest details was hard enough.  He didn't think that he could survive their looks if Yami Malik was telling the truth.

Yami shook his head slightly in disbelief, the motion combined with the blood leaking from his throat and into his clothes bringing about a feeling of light-headedness.  "They have nothing to do with this.  Let them go," he said as firmly as he could.  

"So noble: only wanting to protect your friends whilst facing me.  But deep down all you want is to avoid the repulsion you'll see when they look at you again.  I know you well enough to be able to see that selfishness; it's in your eyes.  You don't give a damn about them; you're just trying to protect yourself, which isn't going to happen because I plan to make you suffer far more than your rapist ever could.

"And they have everything to do with this.  What better way is there to humiliate you, to break you down from the inside, than to put that which you are most shamed by up on display?  Something that I even think you enjoyed deep down.  I must thank you for saving your miserable Hikari in this way," Yami Malik finished brightly, pointing to the illusions again this time with the blade, blood smearing its tip and dripping onto the carpet.  Placing it at the hollow of Yami's throat, he continued: "I came across the tape through one of my many mind-slavesand you can imagine my delight at its content.  I wanted to destroy you from the start, but crushing you like this first is much more enjoyable."

Yami's face screwed up as a series of cries and shouts filled the room, mixing with Yami Malik's own malevolent cackling, his breath coming in tightly controlled pants as he worked desperately to ignore it all.  He needed to stop the dreadful events replaying themselves and get Yami Malik out of here, away from his friends and family.  He needed to put a stop to this.

It may have been sheer desperation that caused Yami to lunge at the crouching figure, the blade slicing neatly across the side of his throat as he moved with a snarl twisting his features, or it may have just been that every emotion that had been part of the torrent in his mind had decided to release itself in one great burst.   Either way it caught Yami Malik entirely off guard, both spirits rolling backwards against each other before the Egyptian got a knee between them and forced Yami onto his back, straddling his stomach and sending a fist across his jaw.  Shifting his position whilst Yami was dazed, he pinned the slender hands beneath his knees, sitting up slightly so as to keep his weight down on them.

The illusion had shattered as a result of the scuffle and left the Rod bearer slightly disorientated, the energy needed for sustaining such an illusion already having drained him more than he would have liked.  Yami bucked beneath him and he returned the blade to his throat, rapidly losing patience with him.  Yami glared up at him, lip curled and chest heaving.  With the disappearance of the illusion came the loss of the paralysing terror that had held him.  Brutality was needed now.  

Yami tried to wrench his hands free to tackle the other spirit again as he moved the blade from his throat to his left wrist, dragging the tip up against his skin without breaking it, following the trail left by his attempted suicide.  The adrenalin was still coursing through his veins making his wanting to attack Yami Malik even greater, although that wouldn't have been the best of ideas. Yami Malik had the Rod and Yami wasn't in any state of mind to use the Puzzle.

Left hand bracing his weight against the floor and his right gripping the Rod alongside Yami's arm, Yami Malik leant forward slowly until they were nose to nose.  Yami's shaking intensified at the spirit's proximity, eyes closing when the tip of his aggressor's nose dragged down from his, brushing across his upper lip before moving up to his cheekbone.  He didn't doubt what Yami Malik was capable of; Bakura had told him firsthand what the Rod-bearer had done to him some years ago, and in Yami's mind being attacked in such a way by the spirit was the worst thing that he could possibly imagine.

Lips dragging across his skin, he felt Yami Malik's breath against his mouth and jerked to free his arms again.  "Coward," the other breathed, just loud enough for him to hear, before leaning back laughing and returning the blade to the base of the scar on his wrist.  Watching intently as he did so, he broke the pale skin with the tip and snapped his hand up, rapidly bringing the blade up the length of Yami's arm, the re-opened wound crossing through several scars that crisscrossed over the pale skin.

Yami lurched at that with a pained cry, the memories of when he did that to himself pounding into his mind, the remembered pain combining with the real becoming excruciating.  Spurred on by his reaction, Yami Malikexpertly swept the blade through the smaller scars, his cackling rising in volume as more blood flowed and revelling in Yami's cry of pain when he passed through a scar that had already been slit open.****

After he was done slashing every one of the numerous scars on Yami's left arm, Yami Malik shifted his knee to release the hand of the mutilated limb.  Bringing the blade up to his mouth, he tongued the blood on its surface as he regarded the spirit's face.  Eyes clamped shut, the tendons in his neck taut and risen, Yami's teeth were clenched to the point of breaking, exposed as his lips were pulled back in a grimace.  Yami Malik grinned broadly at that, he lowered the Rod from his lips and touched the base of the long scar at the wrist of Yami's right hand with it.  He started laughing again when he heard the whimper.

The tip had just broken the surface when Yami Malik froze, sensing a new presence within the room from behind him.  Withdrawing the Rod to himself, he twisted slowly with narrowed eyes to face whoever dared to intrude on them.  A pulse of energy smashed into his chest before he could react to the other, sending him off of Yami and sending him sprawling on the floor.  

Bakura was practically trembling with barely-contained fury as he stared down at the other, the Ring glowing with a blinding brightness as he advanced upon him.  He didn't spare Yami a glance as he strode past him, all his energy fixated on Yami Malik.  

"I should have guessed, you son of a bitch.  Only you would do something like this," he growled, gathering up and focussing more energy into the Ring for a second shot. ****

Yami Malik sneered at him with contempt, standing smoothly and holding the Rod up against him.  He was back against the window now, the Tomb Raider stood only a few feet away.   

"You always were too stupid to figure out even the obvious," he retorted, tipping his head to the side as he regarded the other spirit thoughtfully.  "Do tell me, is that scar on your right thigh still giving you trouble?  Or has it improve since I last saw it?"

Bakura didn't flinch at that comment although internally it was a different story.  "Fuck you," he bit out fiercely, eyes narrowing as the Ring flashed warningly.

A smirk.  "Again?  You didn't find once satisfying enough?" 

Knowing that would have grated enough to provoke a response, Yami Malik snapped the Rod outwards and sent a bolt of his own magic out to meet Bakura's in mid-air.  Stepping to the side when it came crashing back towards him, he quirked a brow challengingly at the Tomb Raider, smirking when the other spirit ran at him and sent them both through the broken and smoking window.

Landing in the shrubs bordering the house, Yami Malik took to his feet instantly and made a run for the streets.  Growling loudly, Bakura ignored what felt like a cracked rib and followed without a backwards' glance.

Seconds later inside the house, footsteps pounded up the stairs but Yami was beyond caring at the moment.  Cold from shock and dizzy from the dangerous amounts of blood he was losing – dangerous for a mortal that was-, he was more concerned with trying to figure out where Yami Malik and Bakura had disappeared to after that last flash.  He'd heard shouting, but it had all seemed so distant.  Rolling onto his side with some effort, he curled into himself, bringing his injured arm against him, vaguely noting the warmth of his blood as it seeped into his clothes.  

Bowing his head, he couldn't help the tears that slipped free, stinging when they passed his jaw and ran down into one of the cuts on his throat.  He felt hot and cold at the same time, dizziness sweeping through and muffling his mind, not that it brought any ease to the barrage of thoughts knocking around his skull.  It had been Yami Malik all this time, and now he'd slipped out again, albeit with a pissed-off Tomb Raider hot on his heels.  But he could still come back.  It had apparently been easy to set this up, break into the house and then…  Who was to say he couldn't do it again?

He wasn't safe here.  More importantly his Hikari and Grandpa weren't safe.  Not around him anyway.  Damn it why couldn't Yami Malik have finished him and ended all this torment for everyone?  

The tumultuous thoughts were too much for him, combined with the searing cold of shock and the pain throbbing in his arm.  Yami absently felt his stomach clench and his gullet constrict impossibly as what little contents there had been were retched up, burning a path up his throat and through his mouth.  Feeling too wretched to feel the humiliation than he usually associated with this sort of action, Yami closed his eyes even tighter and tried to ignore the bitterly acidic taste in his mouth.

There were voices again, concerned and close-by, but he still refused to open his eyes.  He didn't want to.  A hand came to his face; cupping his cheek and lifting his head a little to face the owner, the gentle, almost reassuring action enough to coax the spirit's eyes open.  Yami offered no resistance to the movement, too shaken, scared and tired to care anymore.  Yugi looked terrified but was obviously relieved when he saw that he was conscious, running the fingers of his other hand down his cheek as a small offer of comfort.

Yami flinched as his Hikari then cautiously touched the hand to his own bloodied one, turning over his arm tenderly to see what the source of all the blood was.  The sensation of skin twisting was too much and he cried out again in pain, clenching his fist and pulling his arm back as Yugi gasped and bit his lip hard with barely restrained tears at the sight of the hideous lacerations.  The spirit's eyes closed once more, not wanting to experience that again.

"Yami, I…  Ryou, get me a towel or something," Yugi spoke quickly, not taking his eyes off of his Dark as the other Hikari turned away from the gaping hole that was once the window and left in search of some thick cloth.  

There was now an uneasy silence in the room, Yugi not knowing what to say and Yami in no state to try.  Instead Yugi did the only thing he could think of; moving behind the spirit, he eased him into a sitting position and wrapped his arms around him, mindful of his multiple wounds.  Some idle part of him noted that this was a definite reversal of roles.  His chin at Yami's cheek and arms looped around his waist as his Dark's weight rested against him, this was how Yami used to hold him when he had nightmares.

Reaching out across their bond as Yami used to, Yugi was dismayed but not surprised to feel that every mental defence Yami had was up, a new one present around the recognizable shields making it utterly impossible from him to penetrate.  He could 'see' thousands of small dark bubbles, obscuring the connection and gathering into an impenetrable mass when he tried to focus on one particular area.  Yugi had to wonder whether Yami had been practicing this for some reason or if this was natural and there had never been the need for such a defence before.  

Either way he wanted it gone for the moment.  Bringing up a hand to Yami's face, he stroked a cool cheek trying to ignore the shivers and the way the skin pulled as the spirit's eyes closed tighter.  "Ssh, Yami please. It's only me.  Don't be scared now." 

Yugi sighed when he felt some of the shields slacken, probing again, trying to get him to register his presence on this more intimate level.  It was not difficult to realize that Yami's mind was not in any condition for mental communication right now, but he wanted to reassure Yami that he was with him and he was real.  Having seen Yami Malik drop to the garden with Bakura out of the window, he estimated that the Egyptian had subjected Yami to illusions as he had been.  But it was impossible for the maniac to replicate this bond and his signature in it.  At the moment, just proving that he was *there***** to the spirit was as much comfort as he could give.

He'd started to get worried about what was taking Ryou so long to return when he heard footsteps again, Ryou coming back into the room in Sugoroku's shadow.  The elderly man paled at the sight that met him before he moved to kneel beside Yugi, quietly suggesting that he move out of the way.  Albeit reluctantly, Yugi shifted so that his Grandpa was where he had been, taking a towel from Ryou and moving to dab at Yami's injured arm.

"Not just yet, Yugi," Sugoroku advised softly, meeting large violet eyes with his own.  "Ryou, call an ambulance.  Yugi and I'll stay here for now."

Ryou nodded and dropped the towel to the floor.  This entire situation felt quite surreal to him.  He would have expected panic and running, but instead they were all being quiet and moving carefully.  He presumed that that was for Yami's sake; he certainly didn't need to be traumatised any more than he obviously was already.  

He was worried about his own Dark at the moment though, but Yami required his attention more at the moment.  Bakura had a knack for handling himself, and he'd glimpsed the rage on the spirit's face when he began to chase Yami Malik outside.  With that amount of aggression pumping through his veins combined with his usual hostility, Ryou knew that Bakura was not in any immediate danger.  

Sighing and shaking his head a little to refocus, the hikari found the phone and set about getting some help sent over.  He doubted that Yami would appreciate it, but in his current condition he was in no position to refuse.

Upstairs in the dim room and cool breeze, Sugoroku continued talking to Yami, soft, meaningless words but comforting in their mellow sound. Yugi kept brushing against his Dark's defences although he didn't feel them give at all.  Sugoroku fell silent when the shiver's stopped and Yami was simply catatonic, staring blankly down with barely-open eyes.  The Puzzle glowed with a soft hum as it started to repair the externally inflicted wounds, putting a stop to the blood flow before beginning to knit the flesh back together.

"Tell me what happened."

Jerking slightly at the seemingly unusually loud and clear voice, Yugi swallowed and began to speak.  "Ryou and I came home a few hours ago.  We found Yami in the kitchen; he'd taken too many of the sleeping tablets that Honda had left for him.  He was okay, so we brought him up here to wake up."  Yugi frowned as he tried to piece together what had happened next.  It was still difficult to comprehend at the moment, many hours of rumination needed before he'd be able to understand it.

"We got, 'separated' some time later in dark rooms.  I don't know where I was, but I started seeing things."  He gave his Grandpa a pained look, silently pleading for him not to ask what exactly he'd seen.  He didn't want to think about it now, not ever in fact.  "It stopped before-.  We were both disorientated and confused when the illusion disappeared, and then Bakura appeared saying that a Millennium Item was here.  He told us to stay downstairs until he came back.  We could hear him fighting with Yami Malik before the window broke and they fell through, and Bakura ran after him.  We came up then, but we don't know where they went."  

Sugoroku nodded a little, taking his eyes off of his grandson to look over his protégé's shoulder.  Even with the copious amount of blood, he could see that the wounds were already far shallower.  From the rate the Puzzle was working at, it looked like Yami wouldn't need to stay in a hospital bed overnight, something that he would certainly not appreciate.  

"Is he relaxing at all?" he asked, looking to Yugi again to confirm the gradual slackening he could feel throughout the wiry frame.  

Concentrating, Yugi outstretched his senses and moved forward instantly.  "He's loosing consciousness!"

Sugoroku held up a hand before Yugi could do anything, warding off any action he may have taken.  "Just leave him be; he's had enough for tonight."

Through the hole where the window had been, fast-approaching sirens could be heard, the flickering blue light seeping into the window and increasing in brightness and intensity.  They could briefly hear Ryou guiding them into the house, giving them the non-psycho-spirit excuse he had concocted whilst waiting that would explain Yami's state. ****

There was a lot of commotion as the paramedics came up the stairs before the Motous had to pass over their charge into the hands of strangers, but not before stating that the supposed 'trinket' around his neck was not to be removed.  There were a few frowns at that but an overall agreement to the terms.  The majority of the wounds on Yami's arm and throat had healed up to the stage where they were superficial but the Puzzle was not to be deterred from healing its holder even before the mortals.  Yugi hoped that the blood was enough to hide its actions, otherwise there would be a lot more explaining to do than there was already, and it was going to be a long enough night as it was.

**** 

Now dontchya just feel stupid?  Hands up now; who saw that one coming?  Some of you folks had the most interesting ideas, but no-one came close to this.  Makes me feel sorta proud. ^^

We're at the half-way mark now people and I promise I'll start putting Yami together now...  Honest...  My thanks again to Ayod Botla for support, ideas and pointing out my short-comings and areas for improvement.  You're a star luv.  Also to Pachelbel as she's given me a lot of inspiration and many hours of enjoyment through our e-mails.  Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing so far, and I can only encourage you to do so again.  


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry for the delay in this one! Oodles of review-responses, and then practically a double-chapter. I'm spoiling you due to the prolonged absence of this chapter. 

Luna Rose: Thanks for the compliment, and yes, I had to have Yami Malik in there somewhere. Why does everyone have to villianize him? Because he;s so damn cool to do that with, and he was the only one evil enough to do all this shit. 

Nazdu: Cheers for reviewing, although I don't agree with your point that Yami should have recovered by now at all. There is no schedule for this sort of thing and I'm piecing him back together as I see fit. You must remember that a Hell of a lot is happening to the poor guy (border-line ludicrous now in places) so his circumstances are extreme enough to warrant extra healing time. I've never had this sort of experience, but I did go through some pretty rough times and I'm still a bit messed up, and I reckon I will be for a long, long time to come. In the meantime, my somewhat skewed perspective on the world is an asset rather than a hindrance, and it gives me a guide to work through Yami's recovery by. I hope you find this chapter better as I do let some sparks of hope shine through.

Nayru: I'm glad this has made you 'feel', and I understand what you mean exactly. It was my intention to convey all of this in as realistic a way as possible, and I've done a pretty good job according to some people. 

AG the master: Glad you're enjoying this, and I'll 'fix' Yami soon, honest… Well, not 'fix', but, well, you'll see…

Tuulikki: Glad you're loving it and honoured to be on your fav.'s list.

Dreaming Dragon: Glad you're enjoying it, and hey 'awesome' pops up again!Not even a guess that it was Yami Malik? But I left so many clues…

Kaial and Luke SkyWolf: You're very welcome and I'm glad you're impressed. I wouldn't dare treat such a delicate subject in any other manner than seriously. I'm glad that reading this is helping in some way because although painful and exhausting, it's helping me too. I'm honoured by how strongly you feel and consider it high praise indeed. Thank you, and I hope I can continue to maintain this standard.

Sutaru: Again, 'awesome' appears! Cool. Glad you're finding this all interesting. Took me bloody ages to plan all this.

Choclate-Cherries: Lol. You're the first person to have guessed right, apparently. Glad you're enjoying it.

Yersi Fanel: Pleased that you're enjoying this. What's going to happen next? Well, I'm going to be setting a few things straight and tying up some loose ends, then I'm going to be rounding it off. That's all you're getting from me. You'll just have to read it.

Charredrose: I wan't to hug Yami and Bakura too, but I won't, because tormenting them is so much more fun. You don't like Honda and Anzu? Well you're going to *love* this chapter then. Been wanting to do what happens later on for ages…

Amiasha Ruri: No, not going to see Bakura v. Yami Malik just yet. Later. I'm going to make you beg for that. (Evil smirks). Yeah, Yami's getting a break these next few chapters. It's all been so intense up until this point I've knackered myself out and I need a breather too. So, a bit of fluff's coming up! Look suitably surprised… now.

Daredevil: Glad you liked Chapter 7 and I'll make sure to keep churning them out.

Escuro de la Lus: No closer relationships between any of the characters apart from the friendship kind. Sorry. Go to 'Experiment' or 'For Both of Us' for Yami/Bakura and 'Game Queen and Then Some' for Yami/Kaiba. Is Yami Malik going to be killed like he should? Hmm. I'll consider it.

Ayod Botla: Ah, long review and loved every word, particularly the 'stop bloody asking for Yami/Bakura' rant, which I entirely agree with. For further thoughts on that, refer to the previous paragraph. Thanks for betaing this too, ducks. Yeah, Bakura kicks arse.

KittKat: Glad you thought the dream sequence was real at first. Was my intention to be cruel in that way. Enjoy the chapter! Plenty of 'Yami's getting better honest' bits in it.

Yami-Kun: Glad you like the plot because Ayod and I have spent a lot of time hammering it out, and as for thinking out Yami's mental state? Well, am kinda working from some experience here so it isn't too hard. Glad you appreciate my efforts though.

Crossover Authoress: (Note to self: Stop typing 'glad') –Insert positive word of appreciation here- you're enjoying this, and I'll try to make everything better for him eventually. Good enough for ya?

Lord R: 'Fascinating'? That's a word that hasn't popped up in a review before for this fic. I'm taking the this is 'enough to give me nightmares until the end of time' as a compliment by the way.

KaTyA: Sorry for the delay, and 'you're welcome' in advance. No shonen ai, I'm afraid, but plenty of fluff.

Mirha: Thanks for the compliment. Love hearing that sort of stuff. The Big Showdown seems to be something many of you are looking forward to. I'll make a point to make it good then.

Anna: Yeah, I do spend loads of time and effort on my fics (aside from the no-brainer-random-shite), and I'm glad it's appreciated. Again, I've written plenty of other Yaoi stories so check them out for pairings.

Blue September: Words cannot express how wonderful it was reading your review. Absolutely marvellous. My writing style is deliberate to guide you guys through all of this emotional stuff as it can get a bit hectic, so I'm doing my best to make it clear even if the descriptions do tend to get insanely long. I'm kinda surprised no one's complained about that actually. You're right: Yami torture does rule. I love writing it and you guys obviously love reading it, so I'll keep churning it out for reviews. I'm glad everyone is in character still as it's been tricky at times but a fun challenge too. Again, sorry for the delay in the last chapter and the delay in this one. I'll try and get 9 up quicker.

Thanks for noticing the bit about Kaiba in Chapter 3. Very flattering that you did as you're shown that you're really paid attention to what's going on, not to mention the fact that you've reminded me to address that point. Lovely. I'm sorting everything out with Kaiba in Chapter 9, so you can look forward to that. I'm starting to piece Yami together now, slowly but surely, but key your eye out for plot-twists….

Phew, that took a while. Thanks go to Ayod Botla and Pachelbel for beta-work and encouragement on this one. Ayod apologises again for the long delay, but she had exams so none of us can hold anything against her. Well done for reading all that! Now on with the fic!

Domination: Chapter 8 

The light of the full moon outside the window leaked in through the gap between the thick curtains. It was silent outside; even the crickets had made an unspoken agreement not to chirp tonight. Perhaps something had acknowledged that the Puzzle's spirit needed to sleep, or maybe fate was starting to change its tide to his benefit. Either way Yami wasn't taking advantage of the opportunity to rest. 

It had crept into the third day after Yami had woken up in hospital. Understandably he hadn't been too happy about that; almost Mind-Crushing one of the nurses hadn't been his most ingenious idea but he'd gotten his bearings and realized that he was safe before he could do any real damage. Thankfully he hadn't been kept under the painfully bright lights and prodding hands for long and had returned home with Yugi and Grandpa within an hour. The Puzzle had served its purpose and the scars now looked as they had before, although the deepest that ran the length of his forearm burnt at angry red now.

But that was Malik's fault, not his own. And although the ordeal he had suffered that night had terrified him, Yami didn't pin his insomnia down to feeling unsafe. Indeed there were enough people in the room alone to reassure him that nothing was going to rear itself in the dark. He'd had those fears the first night, but now his mind was simply too active to even attempt rest.

Joey and Ryou were in sleeping bags on the floor, Joey closest to the bed with Bakura's hikari right beside him. The blond had outright refused to leave Yami alone after the attack, and now that Bakura had disappeared with no word and no trace, he'd stated that he was going to give Yami all the help and support he could. He'd taken care of the spirit when all of this had started and if that was what it took he'd 'damn well do it again'.

Ryou was something of a source of guilt for Yami. He'd been invited into the Motou house because Yami considered himself responsible for Bakura's absence and felt the need to keep an eye on him, to protect him now that things had gotten far more dangerous. Ryou's father was out of the country on an excavation dig and wasn't due back for at least two weeks, so the soft-spoken teen was fine to move in for the time being. 

The other hikari in the room was sharing the bed with his Dark. This arrangement had been something of a joint agreement; Yugi wanted to stay close to Yami for reassurance on both their parts, and Yami found his Light's presence comforting. He usually found it easier to share the bed, the presence soothing him to sleep although he hated waking up to him. The first few seconds awake were always frightening for him, certainly now that he didn't know what he'd wake up to.

But Yami was awake now and had been for a few hours, the fact that he'd at least gotten a scant few hours sleep a small comfort. His mind was buzzing and he felt restless, not to mention the fact that the thick bandages around his arm were making his skin itch terribly. At least he was able to take the gauze off of his neck earlier today. But still, he didn't enjoy remaining motionless so as not to disturb Yugi and was desperate to go downstairs and think over a hot drink where he could fidget as he pleased. He was worried about Bakura for a start; none of them had any idea where the Tomb Robber was, including Ryou as the spirit had either blocked off the Ring's magical signature or simply gotten out of range for him to be able to feel it.

Yami hoped that Bakura would return soon; he'd certainly felt safer with the gruff spirit around. He also needed his guidance at the moment, although Yugi and Joey had said repeatedly that they were there if he wanted to talk. Perhaps he should. He definitely needed to start repairing the rift he'd put between himself and Yugi. Maybe now was the time to do it.

Sighing as Yami decided that it was far too early to be contemplating this sort of thing, he set his thoughts to how he was going to get up unnoticed. It would be best if he could dematerialise away from everyone, although that meant going into the Puzzle first which Yugi might sense. He'd never tried this whilst his Light was asleep so he couldn't know. Closing his eyes he reached out to his charge's mind, smiling when he 'felt' that Yugi was deep in REM. Still not wanting to take any chances, Yami put up his mental shields to help disguise his presence before slipping into the Puzzle.

He materialised at the bottom of the bed within seconds, freezing when Yugi moved and exhaling in relief when the teen simply turned onto his side. Slipping out through the gap in the door, Yami moved silently downstairs and into the kitchen, turning on the small light above the oven the see. Glancing about the now dimly lit room to reassure himself that he was indeed alone here, he flicked on the coffeemaker and stood waiting for it to work. 

As something of an afterthought, he dragged the sugar-bowel across from its place against the wall towards him, scooping out a spoonful and holding it over the mug already in place in front of him. Sighing wearily as he noted that his hand was trembling violently around the utensil, spraying sugar mostly into the mug, he dropped it entirely inside. The trembling had been with him for a few months now but it was only noticeable when he held something like a pen or book. Joey and Bakura had both dubbed it as stress, and Yami was relieved that it wasn't further evidence that he was going completely insane.

Bringing his eyes away from his hand in a resolute attempt not to follow the line of thought questioning his sanity, Yami found himself staring at the coffeemaker. Frowning at the reflection of his torso in the glass, he took a moment to look at himself.

Laughing quietly in amusement when he found himself in a pair of sky-blue pyjamas, Yami toyed with the fabric at the hem as he waited for the machine to finish humming. This wasn't unusual; he hardly went into the Puzzle now, and when he did he was always wearing the clothes that Yugi was when he reappeared. It was just part of being a yami. Still, he would have preferred his usual boxer shorts at the moment, although the long sleeves were a comfort right now. Not only did they disguise the angry marks littering his arms, but the soft cotton outfit also helped to cover the evidence of his lost appetite.

The mere thought of food turned his stomach, and he could only bear it in pitifully small amounts. His appetite had dwindled months ago, but over the last few weeks it had practically vanished and the effects were now very apparent, something that didn't particularly bother him although he found his friend's attempts at nudging him towards food irritating. His already slender fingers appeared almost brittle now, and the natural protrusions of bone at his elbows and knees particularly had become sharper. With hollowed cheeks and pronounced ribs, his body seemed to be racing to catch up with his mind, steadily deteriorating. And as preoccupied with everything as he was, he could do nothing but let it.

But he could stomach liquids though. Solid foods, he'd learnt early on, often made a return trip, but anything liquid-based stayed settled. As a result, his diet now consisted mainly of soup and coffee. Not that that was a problem. If he stopped eating entirely it wouldn't kill him, the fact being that not only did the Puzzle affix him to life but it also sustained his body. Without nourishment he'd continue to loose weight, become increasingly lethargic and eventually end up as little use to anyone, but he'd still be alive. Yami didn't want it to come to that though, and knowing that it was better that he give Yugi less to worry about then there already was, tried to eat as often as he can manage. Coffee was still his body's staple diet though.

Snatching up his caffeine-fix for tonight, Yami sat himself at the table and wrapped his hands about the warm mug. Inhaling deeply, he smiled at the combination of the senses. He found the heat and prominent scent of black coffee oddly comforting, lifting the mug to his chin and holding it there to let the warmth rise over his face. He already felt more at ease. Not that he was going to try again for sleep. His two and a bit hours tonight was as much as he was going to get, and Yami figured that he might as well stock up on coffee so as to be semi-awake for when everyone else woke up. He'd done this too many times before, but then old habits died hard.

'In more ways than one apparently' Yami mused as he heard footsteps down the stairs, turning his head a little to watch and his visitor padded past him. The pyjamas looked more appropriate on Yugi as he stopped just in front of Yami, smiling thinly as his hands went to his hips.

"I thought you were supposed to be sleeping," Yugi said dryly, a hint of exasperated humour underlying his tone. Yami cocked a brow at him.

"I could say the same thing about you." Glancing down for a moment, his smile dropped to leave a sombre and sincere expression. "I'm sorry I disturbed you."

Yugi waved a hand a little at that, moving towards the fridge as he spoke. "It's all right, you tried not to. You look sweet like that you know." The latter had been a deliberate attempt at getting some sort of reaction, some sign that part of the Yami that Yugi loved was still there. At the scowl he got for his comment, he grinned and snatched out the milk from its shelf before seeking out a glass.

Remembering Ryou's advice to him, Yugi decided that now was a perfectly good opportunity to talk to Yami, especially with the events of the last two days. The spirit probably had more than a few thoughts about the rather spectacular argument with Honda and Anzu. "I thought that we could talk, like we used to," he said quietly as he took his own seat at the table, directly beside Yami so that their knees were almost touching.

Exhaling smoothly, the spirit nodded a little with his gaze remaining firmly on the hot liquid, his hands wrapped about the mug. "Yes, we should." Deciding that he had ought to be the one to begin, Yami started with something that had been niggling at his conscience for the better part of the day. He was a bit thrown off though. This conversation seemed to be starting out unnaturally formal. But he knew it would take a little while for them to relax. "I'm sorry that I shouted at you earlier."

Yugi blinked, not quite expecting that. He had been naturally hurt, yes, but Yami's outburst was entirely reasonable and he doubted that Yami actually meant a great deal of what he had said, so he had simply smoothed it over in his head. "That's alright Yami. You were upset. Anyway, I think Honda and Anzu are the ones you'd be better off saying that too. I think you did the right thing, but you were still a bit harsh with them even if they did deserve it. You looked so angry you scared me."

The corner of Yami's mouth dropped slightly as his expression turned sour. He had verbally exploded at them, and that was only after Joey had said his piece and then some, but he didn't regret anything that he'd said. Still, it was an awful lot of damage done and it would take a lot of time and effort to sort out, not that he had any inclination to just yet. Their forced absence had only been bought about a few hours ago and yet practically everyone was feeling less uneasy. It had been during the late afternoon whilst they were all deciding what to do next when tensions escalated and things simply got out of control… 

****

"I still think that you should move in with me for the time being, at least until my yami returns," Ryou insisted staring at both Yami and Yugi intently. The teen didn't favour the idea of his friends and their Grandfather staying here whilst Yami Malik was on the loose, even if Bakura was out there pursuing him. If they all stayed with him, he wouldn't be alone in the large house and Yami Malik would have some trouble in finding them.

Yami shook his head firmly from where he sat in the worn armchair opposite the majority of the group. Yugi was partially sat on one of the arms; a head higher than the spirit was as he watched the exchange silently. It was another clear indication about the reversal of roles in their relationship. "We appreciate the offer Ryou, but it would be best if we stayed here. You shouldn't be put into undue danger just because of me."

Ignoring the 'just' in the latter part of that sentence, Ryou continued steadfastly. "You don't need to worry about me. I'm sure that everything will turn out fine now that my yami has gotten himself involved like this. Still, I'd rather not be alone at the moment."

"You could move in with us," Yugi announced suddenly, glancing at Yami and quickly searching his counterpart for a sign of disapproval. In fact it was Yami who encouraged the idea. 

"I'd prefer it if you stayed with us, if you're willing to take the risk."

Smiling slightly at that, Ryou nodded. "I think I can handle it."

Nodding his assent, Yami murmured an 'excuse me' before rising to his feet and moving silently into the kitchen. Yugi mindlessly stood and followed moments later, shutting the door behind him as an afterthought. Although Yami was more stable now than he had been since Yami Malik's visit, no one dared to leave him alone. The normalcy he had been displaying today was slightly unnerving and there were thousands of reasons for why he would do that, none of which were worth speculating on to any great extent.

Joey was the first to speak in the silence that had fallen, vocalising a thought that had occurred to him earlier. "Any one else noticed that they've both lost weight?" he asked, standing from where he had been sat on the floor and striding to the end of the sofa, crossing his arms as he stared at the closed door.

"Yeah," Honda admitted from his place on the sofa, his arms crossed loosely across his chest. "I can't remember actually seeing Yugi eat anything recently."

"Poor Yugi. He's worried sick. This whole thing has been so hard on him," Anzu chipped in from next to him, looking forlornly to the closed kitchen door. Nothing could be heard from inside the room, neither a particularly bad or good sign.

Ryou didn't respond to Anzu's words but Joey's face turned incredulous. "And Yami too if you forgot. The poor guy's going through Hell right now, and I think he's the one we should be more worried 'bout at the moment."

"I don't know about that Joey," Honda contradicted evenly, turning his head to look to the blond. "I mean; he's stronger than Yugi in practically every way. And he's not exactly helping himself with all this."

"I'm with Honda," Anzu spoke, also looking at Joey. "I mean, he keeps cutting himself and he's obviously tried to kill himself at least twice now."

"If you'll pardon my saying so," Ryou broke in firmly, feeling a need to respond to that one and defend the spirit. "The first time it was an understandable action, and it was an accident a few days ago. He didn't know how many pills he could take at once and just took too many. I don't think he meant any harm, and it's not as if Honda left any specific instructions on that note."

"Now wait a minute. Don't go pinning that one on me. I was just trying to help. I didn't know that Malik was going to show up whilst he was sleeping it off."

"That's beside the point. The point is all he's doing is just upsetting Yugi and I've had enough of it," Anzu finished resolutely. This attitude had been long coming for her. At one time she had been totally infatuated with the former Pharaoh, but now he just seemed to be acting selfishly to her, scaring her friends not to mention putting them all in danger.

Joey uncrossed his arms instantly, pointing an accusative finger at Anzu as his temper flared. "Now wait just a damn minute-"

"No Joey, I agree with Anzu," Honda interrupted before the blond could finish. "I mean just think about it. This whole thing has just been blown way out of proportion, and we don't really know if it was rape in the first place. Yugi told us himself that Yami had consented at the time."

Joey had to force an answer to that out through gritted teeth. He simply couldn't believe what his friend was saying. "You can say 'no' halfway through and if they carry on it's still rape."

Honda got to his feet at the tone in those words, standing mere inches away from Joey. "Hey, before this whole thing started I didn't think that a guy *could* get raped, let alone get so torn up about it afterwards."

"I beg to differ."

Everyone snapped their heads towards the new voice, but Honda showed no signs of backing down when he found it to be Yami. Stepping into the room with a mixed expression of confusion and anger, the Game King stopped at the opposite end of the sofa to where everyone seemed to have gathered with his eyes fixed firmly on Honda. "I know what happened to me and I know what it was. It nearly killed me. You have absolutely no right to come in here and say what does and what doesn't constitute rape."

"Whatever Yami. I still think that things have gotten ridiculous recently. At least Bakura's gone now-" 

"Shut up Honda," Joey yelled before he could continue. Yami cut in before he could say anything else, although his clenched hands were starting to tremble at his sides now.

"And what do you mean by that?" the spirit demanded furiously.

"You weren't acting like yourself with him trying to help you, Yami. I think you're better off without him around," Anzu replied for the brunette, looking up to the incensed spirit with large eyes.

"Yeah, and with him off chasing Malik, I don't see how it would matter if they both killed each other off," added Honda, seemingly thinking that this was totally reasonable.

Yami's mouth was a tight, thin line at that, his eyes practically burning. Ryou was still off to one side with Yugi, both of them watching the altercation with wide eyes. That last comment struck a cord within the paler teen though, his eyes narrowing as an abnormal amount of anger on his yami's behalf surged through him. "That's totally unreasonable, Honda. Neither of you seem to have any idea of what's been happening these last few weeks."

"And neither of you are exactly helping now, so do us all a favour and piss off before I get really angry," Joey almost shouted, restraining himself from saying anything else at the look that Yami gave him.

Yugi began to speak, hoping to reason with Joey and try to calm this whole situation down before it got even more out of hand. "Joey-" 

"Quiet Yugi," Yami snapped aggressively without taking his eyes off of Honda. "I agree with Joey."

"You're not making any of this any easier on any of us. And try growing up before you go shooting your mouths off like that," the blond continued, steel lacing his tone.

"Us grow up? You're the one who's too blind to see what's really going on. Yami's pulling all sorts of stunts in some twisted attempt to get attention and Yuug's getting sick with worry the whole time. And now with this maniac running around we're all in more danger than before," Honda retorted angrily, seemingly forgetting the fact that both Yami and Yugi were still in the room.

"Get out," Yami bit out, the quietness of the words and the obvious restraint behind them gaining everyone's attention far more effectively than if they had been shouted. Crimson eyes had darkened to scarlet and there was a barely visible yet constant tremble throughout his wiry frame.

"What?" Anzu asked quietly from where she was still sat, having heard Yami clearly yet not quite believing him.

"I said to get out. I don't want you here. I believed you to be friends, yet all you're doing is telling me that I'm hurting my Hikari with my actions –something that I knew perfectly well before- and criticising my behaviour over which I have little control. I don't need that from either of you right now, so get out of my sight and I suggest that you don't return until you're opinions have change drastically."

Honda and Anzu exchanged uncertain looks, finally standing at a very cautious speed when they saw the rage crackling in Yami's eyes. They may have regretted the way in which they'd put their points forward, but they remained steadfast in their belief that their thoughts were true. It was obvious on their faces and in the fact that they weren't backing down from a very powerful and very angry creature. The spirit was keeping a tautly tight rein on his anger; Joey on the other hand wasn't even trying to cover his feelings of disgust and abhorrence.

"You heard him; get the Hell out of here now!" the blond bellowed without any of his previous, if little, restraint, the pair actually jumping slightly at the volume and abruptness of his voice. Not skirting Yami but rather striding past him with an obvious veneer of confidence, they showed themselves to the front door. Slipping out wordlessly, they pushed closed the door just as quietly and left the remaining occupants in a room filled with buzzing silence.

****

"I am not apologising to them, Aibou," Yami stated flatly, firmly. Recounting the events in his mind had only caused his earlier anger to resurge, although not quite as abundantly, and now he didn't even feel regret for his words to them.

Yugi nodded, not having honestly expected anything other than that so soon after the argument, although he did smile internally at the old term of affection that Yami had seemed to have let slip there. It had been too long since he'd last called him that, and it warmed him now. There was still a chance they could sort things out between them.

During the lull in their somewhat broken conversation Yami had idly started picking at the bandage encircling his wrist, the greying, coarse fabric winding between his thumb and forefinger before disappearing up his arm and beneath the sleeve of the pyjamas. Crimson eyes fixed dully on his coffee, it was obvious that he didn't even know he was doing it.

"How's your arm?" Yugi asked softly, his gaze drifting up from Yami's nimble fingers to his face, waiting anxiously for his reaction. There was a pause in the incessant tweaking of the material as Yami seemed to realize what his hand was doing before it began again, the Game King looking up to his Hikari with a dry smile at the genuine concern he had heard in the question.

"Better. The Puzzle seems to be taking its time healing the wounds, but it doesn't hurt now. It's serving a helpful reminder to me though," Yami said, trailing off in thought as he lowered his gaze to the bandage one more.

"What do you mean by that?"

Yami remained silent for a long time at that, appearing to be debating answering that internally as he scrutinized his Light intensely. Finally he sat back in the chair, unconsciously putting a bit more distance between himself and Yugi and then folding his arms over his chest to complete the physical barrier. Speaking softly, he sought to explain himself.

"When Yami Malik was here, he scared me Yugi, really scared me. He threatened you, my family, and I couldn't do anything to stop him. And when he… I wanted him to stop. I wanted him to just leave so I could make sure you were all right. And thinking about that and what he's left on me, I've finally realized something," Yami said waveringly, his eyes narrowed as he sought to find the words, his damaged hand clenching into a loose fist.

"You're realized what?" Yugi prompted after a moment, both curious and anxious to hear the answer.

Yami seemed to smile to himself, a soft little thing that had been notably absent for months. It only served to make the shadows beneath his eyes appear darker though, his body more tired. It proved that his spirit remained though, a little spark from where there had once before been arrogant, cocky fire. But it was something. Yami spoke with a cautious sort of triumph, as if the realization had been quietly profound and he had yet to put his full faith behind the achievement. 

"That I don't want to die. Not yet anyway. I was actually *afraid* that he'd find some way to succeed, and all I could think about was escape. I didn't want to die and I don't now. I want to fight this, sort all of this out and start doing my job as your guardian properly again."

Yugi nodded at that, his head dipping. He wanted to believe that, he honestly did, but so much had happened. Only a few weeks ago his Yami had been in a terrifying state. Could he seriously risk raising his hopes like this again? What if Yami Malik pushed his Dark too far next time? What if Yami's resolution wasn't as strong as he claimed, and if things became too much for him would he start down that road again? 

"I want to believe you, but I can't just yet. I love you and you know I'll do whatever I can to help you, but I'm just so scared right now." It wasn't necessary to outline what exactly he was scared of; they each knew as well as the other, and so Yami could understand Yugi's reaction perfectly. His expression softened slightly, betraying the fact that his Aibou's words had wounded him, but he nodded and reached out his undamaged hand all the same.

Yami's palm was still warm from holding his mug, his fingers wrapping around Yugi's smaller hand in a gesture of comfort. "I'm scared too, Yugi, and I think that we're both going to need to help each other through this."

Yugi had to smile at that, his brows rising as his eyes fell half-lidded. "You're going to let me? We've all been trying to force 'help' on you for weeks but you're been too stubborn to take it."

Yami looked mildly affronted by this but didn't move his hand away. His face then took on the stony visage of his 'game face', a clear reminder every time it appeared that he was once Pharaoh. Only someone with that position could look so effortlessly regal. "I have since realized the error of my ways and am willing to accept all support offered to me now," he muttered, his eyes cold although a muscle twitched dangerously at the side of his mouth. Sighing a little in self-defeat, he added, "I believe I'm going to need it now."

Absorbing that but still choosing not to dwell on it, Yugi tipped his head to the side, considering. "You miss Bakura, don't you?"

"I'm worried about him," Yami answered evenly, although it was obvious that, although he didn't wish to admit it, he missed the notorious Tomb Raider a great deal. He could feel his absence constantly and it bothered him immensely, also compelling him to keep a close eye on Ryou. It was one of the reasons why he had wanted him to move in with them. He suspected on some level that he may be subconsciously substituting the soft-spoken teen for his gruffer counterpart, but his primary concern was his friend's safety. Distracted by the Tomb Raider or not, Yami knew that Yami Malik would reappear at some point, and he felt that he would rather they all be flocked together when that time came. 

"Me too," Yugi agreed quietly, his eyes drifting as his mind sorted through his thoughts. "I don't know if Bakura ever told you, but Ryou said that-"

"-Bakura was raped by Yami Malik, I know Aibou. He's in a lot of danger at the moment, but I don't believe that anything like that will happen to him. He can take care of himself. I only hope that he'll return soon with that bastard's head under his arm." Yami took a moment to compose himself, his words having been hurried as his eyes narrowed with venom. Removing his hand from Yugi's, he scrubbed at his face tiredly before continuing. "I'd feel a lot better if I could sense something from him, but I haven't exactly been able to concentrate recently so I can't even begin to guess at his condition."

Yugi frowned at that titbit of information. He'd had no idea that the power of the Puzzle could extend that far… "You mean you would be able to tell how he was if you could focus on him?"

Yami nodded silently. "I could usually sense when his presence was close before, but as we've been spending so much time together recently I've been able to naturally pick up his signature. I haven't been able to do so successfully yet, but I'm positive that I could find him if I could concentrate hard enough."

"You and Bakura got pretty close then?" Yugi asked curiously, only realizing afterwards the undercurrent meaning of the words. It was a thought though, certainly something he'd like to know. Yami had obviously come to rely on Bakura a great deal, so perhaps there was something more between them that none of them knew about.

Yami had picked up on said hidden meaning immediately, frowning at the thought and staring at Yugi unblinkingly. "Not in that respect, Aibou. But yes, we did become 'close'. Despite what Honda and Anzu said earlier, he did help me in many ways."

"Even when he was hitting you?"

A wry smile. "Yes, even then."

Yugi shook his head a little, closing his eyes for a moment and then opening them again to reveal nothing less than a pained look. This was something that had been bothering him immensely for some time, and as Yami seemed willing to listen to him right now, he might as well let the other know how upsetting his Dark's reliance on Bakura had been. "I don't understand how he could help you so much though. I'm a part of you! I would've understood, helped you, but it seemed that he was the only one capable."

Yami repressed a flinch at the bitterness in his Light's words. He honestly had had no idea that Yugi had felt like that, too preoccupied in his own feelings to even consider the possibility. He'd been selfish, but now was not the time to dwell on such thoughts. Later he could torment his own mind with dark little thoughts as much as he pleased, but right now he had the opportunity to effectively comfort his Light, and that was far more important.

"I knew you were there, Yugi, but I couldn't put so much on you. I've told you before that I wanted to protect you from this, from the truth of it, something that I am now realising was foolish. Not only that but Bakura simply understood. He has the mindset for it, the experience and, to put it lightly, he was willing to be brutal with me, which was what I needed at times. But more than that, Aibou; I wasn't afraid of what he'd think of me if I said or did… I knew he wouldn't judge me."

"But neither would I!" Yugi broke in, eyes shining wetly as his hands lay flat on the table. He was halfway out of his seat as well, leaning towards Yami radiating hurt amongst other things. Realizing his posture, Yugi slowly sat back down, his eyes still fixed on Yami's.

Yami's words were now soft and their slight hesitance proved that they were being carefully chosen. "I know you wouldn't have. But I'm you're guardian, and whilst you aren't supposed to revere me you should be able to hold some amount of respect. I didn't want to both burden you and shame any opinion you had had of me at the time. Looking back I believe I could have used your support, and Bakura insisted more than once that I talk to you."

"He did?"

"Often. He thought it important. He also suggested that I start talking to Joey again as he did so much for me last year."

Yugi's face still held some measure of surprise at that last comment. He had speculated on what sort of 'help' Bakura had been providing his Yami with over the last few months, but his thoughts never stretched as far as good advice, particularly given the fact that often when Bakura left Yami would be stinking of alcohol. It seemed that the spirit had been genuinely trying to push them together to try and repair the rift that had formed between them. 'Just like Ryou'.

"I'd say that's good advice. Joey's been worried that you haven't talked to him at all recently. He was going to say something today but…"

Yami nodded empathically, relieving Yugi the displeasure of bringing up the memories of the argument yet again. "I hope he can excuse me for that. I had enough to cope with trying to fathom Bakura's meditation exercises." At Yugi's surprised look, he shook his head with a smile in a 'don't ask' manner. "I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"You mean 'today', don't you?" Yugi pointed out, his disbelieving smile at Bakura's skills still present. Yami's brows jumped at that, as if he had only just realized that it was approaching dawn. 

"Later then. Now Yugi, try to sleep for a little longer. You look exhausted," Yami instructed firmly, sorely tempted to point towards the stairs as well as he spoke.

"So do you," Yugi countered easily in a serious tone, one that Yami scowled mildly at. Yugi knew that Yami didn't like being challenged like this, but that rarely stopped him from doing so. 

"I'll sleep later, but you're returning to bed now."

Yami had risen to his feet during those words, giving Yugi the impression that Yami would likely physically carry him upstairs if he continued to resist, no matter how many people they had been sharing the room with. Sensing defeat, Yugi held up his hands in mock surrender and slid from his seat. Padding to the foot of the stairs, he looked back to watch as Yami returned to the coffeemaker, downing the thick remains of his current mug as he flipped on the switch. 

Exhaling heavily, he climbed the stairs silently, doubting more and more with each step that he would be able to get back to sleep now. Despite the fact that their conversation had put a lot that he had been troubled about at rest, Yugi was left with a lot to think about. Yami's indication that he had been ashamed of himself before didn't sit well with him for a start. He had known that already, and had believed Yami to have come to some sort of reconciliation with himself, but to hear him say it again… It was too much to dwell on at the moment.

Yami remained staring at the coffeemaker for several minutes, his attention directed through the Puzzle as he monitored Yugi. He could feel his Light's tumultuous emotions and felt a prick of guilt for causing them. But he knew that there were a few things that he could do to help that.

Waiting until he was sure that Yugi was back in the bed, he sent a firm subliminal command across their link for him to sleep. Persisting for several seconds in this action, he gently closed off his end of the link when he was satisfied that his Light was sound asleep once more. Planning to leave everyone to their slumber, Yami took his fresh coffee into his hands and walked barefoot through the house and into the deserted Game Shop.

This was the closet he could come to leaving the house at the moment, the large windows paneling the majority of the walls affording him a decent view of the world whilst still acting as a barrier from it. Noiselessly moving towards the counter, he maneuvered himself until he was sat on top of it and then set his eyes on the easterly windows, waiting to watch the sunrise.

****

Well there you have it. Six more chapters planned and then I'll bid this particular saga farewell. So, leave me praise, criticism and most importantly, encouragement, and I'll try and have Chapter 9 up as soon as possible. Again: sorry for the inhuman delay, but I've handed you 13 pages of story here so don't go whining. ^^ Later!


	9. Chapter 9

Loads of A/Ns once again.  You people spoil me with reviews. I love it. ^^  Long chapter again, not only because you all had to wait a ridiculous amount of time to get this, but also because I planned to include certain things in this chapter and I couldn't fit them all in if it was shorter.  So yeah, I hope you like it.  A big thanks for Ayod Botla and Pachelbel for betaing this one in various stages of development.  Thanks guys!  

No warnings for this chapter (I might have sworn a bit but I do that constantly, which had kind of taken away the impact.  Oh well.) so everyone can read it comfortably.  Tying up loose ends for a bit before the run-up to the Grand Finale, so enjoy this calm before the storm.  

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.  It sucks.  I show how much I am not pleased with the order of the universe in this respect by abusing the characters in as many ways as I can.

**Review Responses:**

**Corescence:** I recognized 'Nayru', so it's nice of you to introduce yourself.  Glad that I'm making you feel like you're 'in the story'.  It's pretty much what everyone aims for when writing.  And no, as nice as the idea is, I'm not published or any writer outside of fanfiction.  Christ, you make me feel old. ^^;;  Sweet thing to say though, so thanks.  

**Ayod Botla1:** Thanks for reviewing as well as betaing!  Reviews and your feedback are pretty much what keeps this fic going.  I liked chapter 8 too because of all the progress made by different characters; Yami and Yugi talking, Anzu and Honda speaking their mind… More of the same in this one too. ^^ And I agree in that it's kinda funny to have all this stuff in existence with us having planned pretty much all of it way back in October.

**Nix:** (Grins) I take it you're enjoying this fic then?  Hope this update came soon enough for you and your Throne of Evil, which is very nice by the way.

**Miss Sera: **You're not alone in the revelation that Yami Malik was 'the bad guy' in this fic.  Apparently it came as a happy surprise to lots of people.  I don't think that how I had Anzu and Honda act last chapter was a 'rather harsh betrayal' of their character.  In 'Submission' they weren't quite tactful more than once.  And I wanted to have some input from those being affected by just the 'victim' being affected.  They do get frustrated and upset, particularly when they don't really understand what's happening.  I don't know if they'd actually admit to it, but I wanted to show that sign of it in this fic.  That and the fact that I'd been struggling for what to do with them for a long time and this makes things a little easier, although the argument scene was *hard* to write.   As for Bakura and Yami Malik?  Don't worry about not seeing our resident bad-guy get his comeuppance: you will. Just not yet.  I've got some things in the foreground to sort out before I do the 'final battle', which I've yet to plan so hopefully you'll be satisfied with it when I get there.   Little bit with Bakura in this chapter, but it'll annoy you more than anything I think in it's lacking of detail.  I'm mean. ^^

**Choclate-Cherries:** Well, you certainly had a lot of animosity directed towards Anzu and Honda given your review.  ^^;;  Glad you don't mind waiting for updates.  Nice to hear that once in a while.

**Yami27:** Very flattered that you thought this fic was 'professional'.  I spend enough time on the damn thing.   Hope you like this chapter.

**Escuro de la Lus:** Glad you liked the chapter, and don't worry about the Yami/Bakura thing.  You weren't bugging me, so no worries.  Glad you liked 'Experiment' and 'For Both of Us'.  I've got a couple of Darkshipping fics (I believe) on my favourites list, and Spyder1's done quite a few.

**Krisnkriss: **Bad cliffe?  I thought I was quite nice to you guys with that one. Oh well.  Glad you can 'almost understand' Anzu and Honda's reactions.  Is what I was aiming for.  And I'm glad I made you think 'way too much'.  Thinking is good. ^_~  

  
**Pachelbel: **Hope you got to chapter 8 in the end.  Lemme know if you still can't and I'll send you a copy.  Hope you like this one now that it's finished, and thanks for looking over what I had done a little while ago.

**KittKat: **Glad that you're enjoying seeing Yami finding some semblance of normalcy again.  And yes, he's still got a lot to settle before the end.  

**AG the master: **Pleased that your glad that Yami's getting better, and don't worry, Bakura may get a big roughed up, but I won't be killing him.  I'll give you that spoiler.  Nice, aren't I?

**Anna:** Yami making up with Anzu and Honda? Yes, certainly something that I'll resolve at some point.  And I'm enjoying Yami and Yugi's relationship 'healing' too; writing with them barely talking was a bit depressing.  Yami Malik'll get what's coming to him, don't worry.  I'm very happy to hear that you'd liked my other stories.  Comments like that always make me grin. ^^

**Dreaming Dragon1:** Yes, there were clues, but they were fairly subtle bits of foreshadowing.  No biggie that you didn't spot them.  Heck, I didn't know that I was writing them half the time!  Ayod would say something about a 'nice bit of foreshadowing' and I'd look suitably puzzled before moving on. ^^;;  Less to have clues about now, so don't worry about hunting out more.  Only a few more chapters to go, and then  I'm starting a whole new series.

**DracOnyx:** Congratulations on having the shortest review I've ever received. ^^;  A sound and two words.  Yup.  Here's more, as you requested.

**Liz10:** Ah, Anzu and Honda weren't that bad, and I wouldn't say that they had 'no right'.  Them speaking their thoughts spiced up the fic a tad though, didn't it?  Am not going to drop this fic, so of course I'll continue with it as often as I can, and I'm pleased that you liked the prequel as well as this one.   Yami'll get 'better' because he should to end the fic, however we'll all be working off my idea of 'better'…  ;p

**Amiasha Ruri:** Cool that you liked the argument.  I try to get something memorable in every chapter.  This time.. well, you'll see.  Wow.  Everyone's pleased that Yami and Yugi are chatting again.  I thought you were all sadists baying for blood and depression?  Hmm.  This fic might have to have a happy ending now.  Sorry, but no Bakura v. Yami Malik.  I'm making you wait for it.  I'll try and make it worth it.  Thanks for the heads-up about the formatting problems.  FF.net has been an arse lately.  Hopefully this chapter won't get too mangled.

**Fang:** Pleased about the 'awesome' comment and a little confused by the 'quicker than usual' thing.  I'm well aware that these chapters take ages (the next one will take a short eternity as I'm on holiday for a while and then I get my exam results back so much partying will be due) but I go for length to make up for it.  This one is about 12 pages without the A/Ns, so I hope everyone will be pleased and review accordingly.

**Yami27:** I have done a lot haven't I?  This fic is quite the beast, although Game Queen is a lot longer.  Novels? Aw shucks…  Got one planned.  It's just doing the research and actually writing it.  Maybe in a few years.  Happy with fanfic sagas for now.  They get reviews too.  Not so much money to be made, but we can't have everything now, can we?

**Akuro:** Awww, you called me talented. ^_^.  Very smug now.  I think I'll leave the summary as it is as it seems to be drawing in quite a lot of new readers.  Anyone just found this fic today out of curiosity?  Thanks for the compliment about my portrayal of Bakura.  I hammered his framework out with 'Experiment' for a bit before really working with him in this.  Got some solid foundations laid first, which helped loads.  He would have been very different had I not written 'Experiment', and I probably wouldn't have used him anywhere near as much as I have.  And don't whack Honda and Anzu with a frying pan.  Be creative. Drop a dishwasher on them. ^^  Hope you like this chapter, and I'm afraid that you'll just have to keep waiting for the Final Confrontation.  You'll hear from Bakura again soon though. See?  These notes are full of spoilers.  ^^ It's worth asking me stuff because more often than not I'll answer.

**Crossover Authoress:** Glad that you loved the last chapter.  Hope you feel the same way about this one.  I'm very glad that you could understand Honda and Anzu's actions, and yes, you made sense when you were talking abut that.  ^^  You hope Bakura is okay?  (Glances down at chapter) Hmm.  Up to you.

**Mirha:** One of your three fav non-yaoi stories?  What are your other three?  I like getting recommended reading.  And you're second favourite by me?  The first being?…  Damnit leave details in future.  I'm very pleased that you picked up on how the character's personalities are subtly changing.  Been working my arse off on that, trying to get it right and the like.  Your favourite part was when Honda and Anzu were kicked out, eh?  Fair enough.  Personally I like the first chapter the most with the drowning.    Got this chapter out as soon as I could, so sorry for it not being up before you moved.  Hope you enjoy it all the same.

**Bastet Starwind:** So, you doubt that Yami's going to get better soon even though he's starting to get better now?  (Wraps head in tinfoil) Quit probing.  You'll spoil it.  And aw, you said 'awesome' three times in one sentence. ^^  

**KaTyA: **'Bittersweet' is a pretty good word to describe the last chapter.  Pleased you enjoyed it.

**DJ Silence Yuy:** Hope this chapter was worth the wait as well.  I'll do my best to 'keep up the good words', and I'm flattered that this one is one of your faves.  

**Blue September: **Ah, I love your reviews.  Long and detailed, which always make perfect reviews.  Glad all of this is worth the wait.  That makes things easier as I don't feel like I'm being rushed.  You'll hear from Kaiba this chapter, and hopefully I've tied up pretty much everything with him, including any animosity towards him that his actions in Chapter 3 aroused.  There be fluff ahead. ^^ You got what I was doing with Honda and Anzu *exactly* right, so 'thanks' and 'well-damn-done'.  I wouldn't have made their actions absurd (as the plot of this fic has become ^^;;) anyway, but I appreciate your 'thanks' and 'well done' all the same.  No tears before that Yami and Yugi weren't talking?  Damnit. Note to self: try harder.  Great of you to shout a thanks to my betas too.  They deserve it.  They work as hard on this as me.  As for Bakura?  He's running around Japan with Yami Malik right now.  Is he okay?  I'm not saying.  Will he be okay?  I'm not saying.  Am I cruel bitch to be doing this and leaving you all hanging?  Hell yes.

Well done.  Want the fic now? Domination: Chapter 9 

The sun didn't seem to shine anymore. Despite the fact that it was early summer, thick grey clouds always seemed to be obscuring that brilliant light, casting a gloomy shadow over the city of Domino, a shadow that had been ever present for almost an entire week now.  Even the wildlife appearedto be subdued, sensing something ominous on the light breezes that ruffled their skins and snatched at the puffs of blossoms delicately placed on young trees.

It was in fact to the north of the island where this disturbance of ambiance was focussed, an aura of violence and hostility radiating from two beings and impacting this reality and that of the Shadow Realm.  Two individuals, the roles of hunter and hunted blurred at best, having meandered up from the opposite end of the island, had reached their final destination of battle and the conflict raged on.   

A great surge flared in one of the beings, a massive assimilation of power from the reality composed entirely of nightmarish things that was then expelled at his opponent in this one.  It missed, narrowly, dispensing injury rather than mortality, although it's enough to send the attacked running to recover and regroup.  However, the assailant in this instance refused to renounce that easily, and the chase began again.

****

The huge panes of glass were streaked in white and beiges, great rays from the morning sun piercing through the gaps between the nearby buildings and trees to strike the Game Shop directly.  A few minutes ago the glass had practically glowed with pinks and oranges as the sun broke the horizon, the darkness preceding dusk still present and battling against the pastel-coloured light.

The empty mug in Yami's hands was stone cold now from his neglect to refill it, his unnaturally thin fingers still and cold themselves about it.  Blinking sluggishly, the thought that the colours across the windows would be gone entirely soon flittered across the Game King's mind and the realisation brought him out of his daze long enough to unclasp his stiff fingers from about the mug and place it as his side.  He contemplated getting up to watch it properly from the window, but the stiffness in his legs renounced that idea for him.  He could watch it properly the next time he was up at this hour.

When he'd first come into the shop, Yami had believed that he would spend the hours until the house and shop respectively were bustling and noisy going over and analysing the conversation he had just had with his Hikari.  Instead he had merely slipped into a numb stupor, something he had a nasty habit of doing several times during the day if he'd neglected himself for too long.  As if reminded of how he'd been treating it recently, Yami's stomach clenched uncomfortably with a loud grumble.

Blindly pressing his now free hand to it, Yami considered fixing himself some breakfast, but discarded the idea immediately at the swell of impending nausea that struck him.  He was too tired to eat.  He could try to sleep again later, when everyone had seen him for a satisfactory length of time and let him slip off on his own.  Yugi would keep tabs on him even then, but his Hikari's mind was hardly intrusive and so he considered that to be inclusive in his meaning of 'alone'.

Choosing to plan his sleeping hours later, Yami closed his eyes so as to try and force the Puzzle into alleviating the throbbing headache that was currently residing in his temples.  That was quite a strange thing about the Puzzle; it would heal up wounds that he had inflicted to himself at an impressive speed, but when it came to the symptoms of personal neglect it didn't seem to be interested in helping at all.

At first Yami had believed that it was merely his control over his Item beginning to slip.  He had wholeheartedly believed at the time that his grip on reality was starting to slip as well, so to him it had been a feasible option.  But now it just seemed like the Puzzle was sentient, or perhaps working from his subconscious.  He didn't really care about any of that; his only bother with it was that he had to work extremely hard just to coax the Item into taking the edge off of his headache or to quieting his stomach when it had been empty too long.

Yami was still concentrating intently on doing this, his breathing slow and deliberate, when a light touch to his shoulder made him jerk violently.  The hand was removed immediately and Yami saw with wide eyes that Sugoroku had taken a step back from him so as to grant him his space, his expression apologetic as he stood there silently.  Yami smiled humourlessly at his own surprise and lack of attention, subtly ignoring the increase in the tempo of his headache, to show that it was fine and that no apology was needed.

His somewhat adopted grandfather appeared relieved, glancing about himself for a moment before locating the soft-bristled broom leaning against the wall behind Yami.  Collecting it, Sugoroku appeared to ignore Yami as he began to sweep the shop floor, an entirely unnecessary action, as it was still pristine from the night before.  It eased Yami though, attention diverted from him willingly which allowed him to sit and muse to his heart's content.

A part of him hoped that Sugoroku would speak to him though.  They had had a somewhat awkward conversation during the ride home from the hospital.  Yami could barely remember it, his thoughts having been so sporadic at the time.  He guessed that it must have been words of comfort more than anything else, reassurance and affirmations of love doubtlessly mixed in.  He didn't really care anymore.  Everything comfort-related had become a coined-phrase from overuse over the last year and a bit.  No, what he wanted was to actually talk to the older man, as he and Yugi had a few hours ago.  Sugoroku was the only adult he trusted, and he suspected that he might have some advice or insight that no one else could have.  Or maybe he was just hoping for too much.  Either way, Yami was extremely reluctant to be the one that began the conversation.  He didn't quite fancy going out on that ledge just yet.

"Well it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day," Sugoroku announced, seemingly to himself as his back was to Yami as he stood at the window facing the rising sun, the broom still now as it stood vertical beside him.  The smears of colour had finally been banished entirely from the glass, the curved panes as clear as the pale sky.  Sugoroku turned to face Yami slightly as he spoke again, his words slow and deliberate.  "It's a shame that you'll be inside all day."

Yami was actually mildly impressed that he'd been so forward about that.  Everyone else had turned a blind eye to his willing imprisonment within the house, apparently seeing the action as acceptable given everything that had happened merely a few days ago.  Even Yugi was not questioning it.  Yami was well aware that he couldn't hide from the world forever, but as everyone was letting him at the moment he was going to damn well take advantage of the opportunity.  Sugoroku didn't seem to see it that way, and before Yami could come up with a suitable response he had resumed speaking, his gaze returning to the outside.

"But I suppose it will give you a chance to catch up with your sleep," he said evenly, his voice not belaying what exactly he thought about that.  Making a soft noise to himself in his throat, Sugoroku jumped the broom up a few inches so that it was now held a little way off the floor, walking purposefully back past Yami and into the house.  

Quirking a brow at the display, Yami gave a small, slightly confused smile that dissolved into a frown as the skin beneath the thick bandages began to itch.  He shouldn't scratch it, that he knew perfectly well, but the sensation was already grating at him.  Wrapping his good hand about the area where it was worst, he squeezed firmly, hoping that the pressure would alleviate his growing discomfort.  It didn't.  In fact it appeared to just get worse.  

Closing his eyes again, he tried again to focus the Puzzle's energies to sort out whatever was happening.  Yami sighed a little when he found that despite being able to do so, it had absolutely no effect.  Apparently his Item wouldn't work to dispel irritancies that were steadily driving him to distraction.  He had half a mind to fill up the sink and dip his arm into it to see if that would help.  Changing the bandages would be an inconvenience, but he was positive that it would be worth it.

"Yami?" 

Ceasing his efforts, Yami opened his eyes and felt the creases in his forehead smoothening out as he watched Sugoroku offer a china teacup to him.  Taking it with both hands, not trusting his trembling fingers enough to risk the cup with just one hand, he noted that the liquid inside was of a much clearer colour than coffee.  It also smelt different; fresher.

"You shouldn't drink so much coffee; it's bad for you.  There's plenty of herbal tea in the cupboards now if you want a hot drink."

Nodding slightly, Yami stared into the sap-coloured, translucent liquid, enjoying the sensation of the warmth from it drifting across his face.  He doubted that he'd stop drinking coffee entirely.  He savoured the few hours of awareness each caffeine-laden cup granted him, and it was the most robust flavour he could stomach at the moment.  He'd consider this new beverage though, perhaps not as an alternative, but certainly as a supplement to his diet.

Feeling his gut work silently again, Yami took a sip of the tea, hoping that by putting at least something in his stomach it would quiet it.  He was wrong.  Apparently it just made it worse.  Sugoroku's brows rose minutely at the sound whilst Yami kept his eyes on his tea.

"I think you're hungry, Yami," the elder Motou pointed out when Yami continued to show no signs that he had even heard the sound in the first place.  The spirit's mouth quirked a little at the obviousness of the statement, before another thought crossed his mind.

Sugoroku had displayed a surprising amount of knowledge about his Puzzle in the past –it had been he who gave Yugi the pieces in the first place after all, so perhaps he would have some idea as to why his Item was stubbornly refusing to help him at the moment. His mounting frustration with the powerful trinket only meant that he couldn't think clearly of why it was doing this, and so his only option was to turn to an outside source.  He certainly couldn't let Yugi know about his little problem.  

His Hikari would likely work himself into a worried little frenzy over the fact that Yami was having trouble both sleep and eating, despite the fact that the evidence to this was obvious.  It had come to Yami's understanding, however, that people don't see what they don't want to see.

"Grandpa?" Yami finally called, his mouth working awkwardly around the word. He still wasn't used to calling the older man by that title.   Sugoroku appeared moments later though, sans a broom as he stood in front of Yami, waiting for him to continue.

"I have a headache from not being able to sleep which has done little to make me want to eat anything, so my stomach is, noisy, but the Puzzle isn't doing anything to help this.  Do you have any idea why that is?" Yami asked cautiously.  Although doubting that he would, Yami hoped that Sugoroku wouldn't launch into a lecture about how he needed to eat and sleep.  He simply wasn't in the mood for that right now.

Apparently no such intention had crossed Sugoroku's mind.  His brow furrowed for a moment before he answered as if it were quite obvious.  "Your body is naturally telling you that it needs food and rest, and as the Puzzle is in charge of your well-being, it's going to let it, and I doubt that it will simply let you turn off those signals.  I'm afraid you're just going to have to live with it like the rest of us, or eat something instead."  

His question answered, Yami made a noise in his throat to show that he understood before his attention snapped to the windows where he had seen a large shape out of the corner of his vision.  He had been ready to stand and his stomach had clenched uncomfortably at the thought that it was Yami Malik, returning for him with or without Bakura in tow.  His body eased little when he realised what the dark mass really was.

It was a limousine, sleek and black with all its windows up and darkened, allowing no inkling of who was inside.  Not that Yami needed to guess.  He knew who, for some reason that he couldn't even begin to fathom, was visiting, and the thought made his lip curl.

Sliding off of the cabinet leaving his cup on it, he strode out of the shop and back into the house at the back, only pausing at the doorway when Sugoroku called out to him.  "You should go upstairs and put some clothes on Yami.  I don't think he's here to talk to me."

Jaw clenched, Yami did as he was bid, although he had no inclination of going back downstairs.  He remembered with crystal clarity his last meeting with Kaiba, and he was happy enough to have that as the last memory he ever had of the CEO.  Kaiba had pushed him that day, caused him to break down in front of everyone for no reason and Yami resented him vehemently for it.  

Still, despite that he had consented when Yugi wanted to take the tape to Kaiba, the tape that Yami Malik had somehow obtained and then proceeded to torment him with.  The billionaire had the resources to at least attempt to find the, at the time unknown, sender of the object, and so his services had been utilised. He wouldn't let Yugi just send it though, when that ran the obvious risk of Kaiba being able to actually watch the tape should his curiosity get the better of him.  Bakura had gone along for just that reason, assuring Yami that the CEO didn't see anything except numbers when he returned with the tape later that day.  That had put Yami at ease a little.  He didn't want to even think of what Kaiba would do if he saw it.  

Stalking into the darkened bedroom where everyone was still sleeping soundly, he collected up the first shirt and pair of trousers that he found and returned to the hallway, shutting the door behind him.  Carrying the bundle along to the bathroom, he locked the door and set about changing.  The baggy, beige-coloured trousers he found, to his dismay, were Joey's, but he found they were wearable if he just tightened the belt.  He didn't particularly want to return to the room and seek out his own clothes.  The shirt was his own, and he stood over the sink as he turned the sleeves out the right way as it dangled in the sink, glancing up into the mirror as he did so.****

He hadn't actually looked at himself in a mirror in a long time.  It hadn't been through avoidance; he simply hadn't bothered, and now he was mildly surprised at his own appearance.  Leaning forward, Yami noted that he was paler now, his face thinner and his already strong cheekbones even more pronounced.  Darkness framed his eyes and there was a general tiredness permeating his being.  It took a few moments for him to gather up the courage to look below his neck, and it was a bittersweet moment when he did.  As he did his hands fell still in their fumbling.

The scar on his shoulder had faded minutely.  It was still a harsh contrast to his skin, but it no longer resembled a bad and slightly raised burn.  Ignoring the barely perceptible protrusions about his sides, Yami's gaze drifted to his arms.  His right was looking better than ever; the shallowest of the lacerations gradually turning silver although the deeper ones remained quite obvious.  

His left was a mess; that he knew even though it was securely encased in gauze, the fresh lesions crisscrossing exactly over those he had gradually inflicted to himself over time.  Part of him wanted to remove the bandages, to see if it was as bad as his imagination was making it, but the other part, the stronger one, wanted the bandages left where they were so he wouldn't have to see.

"Yami, could you come down?"

Jumping despite himself at Sugoroku's voice from downstairs, Yami tore his eyes from the mirror and jerked the shirt over his head.  Leaving the pyjamas hanging over the edge of the bath, he made his way at his own pace back down the stairs and into the Shop.  Finding no one there, he glanced behind him to see Sugoroku and Kaiba watching him through the doorway of the living room across the hallway.

Approaching slowly, he stopped when he was just outside the room, crossing his arms and allowing his discontent with Kaiba's presence to show on his face.  There was no fear of the taller teen this time; he was far too angry to feel that.  Kaiba didn't look particularly pleased to be standing there either.  

Either ignorant of the tension or simply ignoring it, Sugoroku clapped his hands together and looked from one to the other.  "Well, I'll leave you two in here to talk.  I'll be in the shop if anyone needs me."  Stepping out behind Yami, he waited until the spirit had reluctantly stepped into the room before closing the door.  Yami half expected to hear a bolt slide behind him as he stood staring resolutely at Kaiba.

The CEO was wearing his dark blue coat, its elaborately structured shape winding around his lean form and spilling out in a wide flare about his ankles.  For some reason that Yami couldn't figure he had his usual silver case with him.  It was obviously heavy, and Kaiba appeared intent on staying for a considerable amount of time, for he walked a few paces away from Yami to deposit it at the end of the sofa before facing him again, still standing.

"Why are you here?" Yami asked finally, seeing that Kaiba wasn't likely to be the one starting this discussion, or whatever this little meeting turned into.  He was conscious of the fact that his tone was a lot less aggressive than he had intended it to be, tiredness giving his words a sluggish inflection.

Kaiba looked uncomfortable in a way that suggested that he was starting to reconsider ever coming here.  There was a resolution in his eyes though, and even thought the muscles in his face tightened as he spoke, he got the words out.  "I came to say that I'm sorry."

Yami could only blink at that.  To him, Kaiba uttering the word 'sorry' or any variant of it was as likely as Joey wining the Miss World contest.  His mind was so scrambled by the shock of it that he couldn't think of what Kaiba was apologising for.  Seeing Yami's wholly understandable confusion, Kaiba continued agitatedly.

"For last time.  After Bakura ran off with you, Yugi told us everything.  Well, enough at least.  I shouldn't have treated you like that.  If I'd have known, I'd…" He trailed off somewhat helplessly, and it was obvious by his expression that words failing him was not something that he was accustomed to.

"'If I'd have known' you'd what?" Yami demanded, anger surging unexpectedly.  He felt insulted by that latter comment, and although he had no clear idea why, he was still damn well going to retaliate.  

"You'd have been nice?  Used a soft voice and kind words, assured me that everything's will be okay?  If you came here with the intention of starting that then you can leave now because you'd be wasting your time.  I hear that enough around here and I neither want nor need it from you.  It's suffocating as it is."

Kaiba was glaring now, taking a large step forward without realising he was doing so, naturally using his advantage of height and stature to attempt to intimidate Yami into backing down.   Now barely a foot remained between them.  He caught himself before he could go too far though; his head dipping and his eyes going to one side as he reigned in his anger with obvious effort.  

Mentally, he conceded that he would have probably had a similar reaction if their positions were reversed.  He could forgive that.  However, when he did finally speak his words were tight.  "No, I would have treated you exactly the same as I always have.  I just wouldn't have laid a hand on you or tried to get a rise out of you.  I take no pleasure in your misery."

Yami snorted, crossing his arms more firmly across his chest then he usually would, ignoring the coldness inside Kaiba's shadow as he blocked out the dawn seeping in from behind him.  "What would you know about misery?"  It was a challenge; a hollow one, but still a challenge.  Yami certainly didn't want to have any form of conversation with Kaiba, especially not when he was feeling this run down.  He was hoping that if he aggravated the other enough he would just leave of his own accord.

However Kaiba was as stubborn as he was, and he had come here with his own agenda in mind, and no matter how much he despised it, he had no intention of leaving until he had accomplished it.  At Yami's question he merely narrowed his eyes, showing that he wasn't going to rise to that one.  "Enlighten me."

"It's none of your concern."

"You look like shit."

Yami had to quirk a brow at the bluntness of the insult.  Kaiba was usually far more elaborate in his criticism of him.  It had caught him off guard and so sarcasm was the best he could come up with in response to it.  "Thanks."

Not wanting Kaiba this close to him anymore, Yami moved around him so that he was standing next to the silver case on the floor.  The gap between them was a narrow one now, his feet planted between the low coffee table and the sofa.  Kaiba faced him but remained where he was.  His expression was stony but his eyes held something a bit more complex; a mixture of frustration, anger and concern.

"I'm serious.  I've never seen you this thin, you obviously haven't slept over the last few days and I'm more than a little suspicious about what that bandage is hiding.  I'm no expert of this type of thing, but I'd of thought that you'd be at least a little better off than before."

Yami stopped clenching his jaw when it started to hurt, his eyes still focussed intently on the area of carpet between Kaiba's boots.  He hated that his rival on and off the duelling platform could see all of this so clearly, but he hated more that Kaiba believed he had given into temptation and hurt himself again.  He didn't want Kaiba believing that; for some reason it was important to him that he didn't.  "I haven't…  I didn't do this, not this time," he spoke, not making any motion to indicate what he was talking about.  It was obvious.

Kaiba looked sceptical, not that Yami saw, but waited for the spirit to elaborate all the same.  He had honestly believed that Yami would do something like that again, especially considering the contents of the tape.  That was one of the reasons he had put off this visit.  He didn't want to get involved in the messy aftermath of such an action.  That and the fact that whenever he had called to try and make this apology as impersonally as possible he had either been told that Yami was in no fit state for it, or simply told where to go and how to get there by one of the group.

Weeks ago they had been eager for his help though, Bakura delivering amysterious tape and then standing over his shoulder as he probed every square inch of it, ensuring that the video screen in front of Kaiba remained blank of all things aside from numerical data.  However, the Tomb Raider had no solid knowledge of his equipment, and he was able to casually press the correct button right under the spirit's nose.  

He naturally made a copy of the tape; there was no way he was simply going to check for anomalies on something that was obviously important without satisfying his curiosity of what was on it.  Bakura seemed very edgy about it, and at the time he was positively intrigued as to what it was about such a simple item that could have such an impact on the thief. 

When he actually saw the contents he partially wished he hadn't been interested enough to make a copy of it.  He had idly noted that the tape wasn't rewound when it was delivered to him, the images being played over two hours into cassette.  Somehow he doubted Bakura knew what had been recorded previously.  Still, he had watched the entire thing through with as much of a clinical detachment as he could manage, despite it turning his stomach and making him wish he could kill Kresha again.  He'd hit 'mute' when it had started to become too much though.  He was human.

However, he also possessed the intelligence of a shrewd businessman, and he knew all about exploiting opportunities to their maximum.  He figured that whoever had sent the tape had intended to inflict harm upon Yami, and he also figured that there was no reason that they should stop at that.  So he had conducted his own investigation during the sparse hours of spare time at his disposal.  The internet had many uses, and distribution of this sort of material was disturbingly common.  However, he had found direct access to exactly the same material on the tape on the website for the current duelling tournament.  Anyone could see it.  It had taken him several hours and a lot of work from some of the most advanced computers in existence, but he had taken the material down.  

Aside from certain psychologically sick individuals and whoever had sent the tape in the first place, Kaiba figured that no one else had even attempted to watch it all.  However, to gain an understanding of it and Yami's situation, he believed that he should do so.  Although, he wasn't quite sure of why he even wanted an understanding.  It might have been down to the fact that he looked after Mokuba; paternal instincts and a need to protect.  That and the fact that he believed no one should be submitted to this sort of thing.  He didn't like seeing Yami in the state that he was in, and wanted to help somehow.  Before seeing the tape he didn't really have a clue as to what he could do, but afterwards, when the horror of it could truly sink in, a few things began to click in his mind.

But before he could do anything he needed to put Yami into some semblance of the correct state of mind to accept whatever help he could offer.  There was a lot of hostility between them and so some of that needed to be smoothed over before he could proceed.  Hence his rather mangled attempt at an apology.

Right now, Yami didn't appear to want to expand upon his answer as to who had made the need for the new bandages.  Hell, if he couldn't talk about what the coarse material was hiding then there was no way that he would be able to talk about the tape's contests, all three hours of it.  Despite his efforts, Kaiba's patience was beginning to run thin.  He simply wasn't used to this sort of thing.  "Who did it then?"

Dubious as to Kaiba's interest, Yami was still relieved that he was being so straightforward about this.  It was a change from the attention he had been receiving recently, aside from Sugoroku who was an enigma in himself.  It was like having Bakura back. "Yami Malik," he answered after a moment, lifting his head now to gauge the CEO's reaction.  

Kaiba's brow crinkled in confusion at that.  "I didn't know he was still sulking around Japan.  What's he got to do with any of this?"

"He's the one that sent me that tape; the one that Bakura brought to you to inspect a few weeks ago." 

The brunette's index finger raised slightly even though his entire arm was lax at his side.  It was his own signal to remain quiet whilst he thought, a small sign that he was only aware of making half the time.  Kaiba was renowned for his intelligence and for good reason.  Yami's answer allowed him to understand a lot of what he had been puzzling over recently, but it also raised questions.  

If Yami Malik had indeed paid Yami a visit, then where was he now?  What could drive the blond psycho away when he was obviously fixated on this?  Or had he left of his own accord and was simply lying in wait, ready to return when he felt particularly homicidal.  Heck, he could be fiddling with the lock on the backdoor whilst they were stood there!

Driven only by his own curiosity, Kaiba relaxed his hand again.  "I think you'd ought to tell me what's been going on since I last saw you."

And so Yami did.  He told Kaiba, in a calm, detached voice, what had been going on since he last saw him.  It was as if he were speaking about another person.  He didn't care, a complete turnabout to his intense feelings about Kaiba knowing about the new wounds on his arms.  It was like some damn in his mind needed to break desperately and Kaiba was just the means to allow and contain the outburst.  The CEO seemed oddly willing to listen, so he felt even more willing to spill.

Yami told him how Yami Malik broken into their home and his mind, how he had tormented his friends, and of how Bakura had forced him away and the Tomb Raider's location as well as his prey's was unknown.  Yami told him how Honda and Anzu had been exiled from the group, how everyone was congregating in this small home like sheep for the slaughter, and how he was getting sick and tired of everything: of the concern, the sympathy, the pity, the aches, the burning and the feel of impending doom.  Yami told him everything because he didn't give a damn what Kaiba would think at this point, and there was no one else around right now who he felt that way about.

For his part, Kaiba listened.  He didn't interrupt or supply words when Yami struggled to find them, didn't allow his expression to belay his mind's turnings and didn't offer comfort when the spirit, trembling and pale, had finished.  Actually he was very tempted to put his arms around the smaller teen at the end of it, but he restrained himself.  That didn't stop him from making some sort of offer to try and ease the spirit's torments.

 "If you don't think you're safe here, I'd be happy to take you in with everyone else.  There's plenty of space available and I believe my security would keep Yami Malik at bay."  Kaiba had added that last part on as an afterthought, attempting to sway Yami's decision as he could already see by his expression that he was going to decline.  Sighing internally, he figured that that was down to Motou pride, or something to that effect.

If Yami was at all surprised by the kind offer he did not show it, his face impassive and tired.  "Thank you, but we're fine here."

'Fine' didn't fit as an acceptable response in Kaiba's mind.  He had come here with the intention of apologising, and he'd done that, but after hearing what had been happening recently…  He couldn't just leave Yami here aware of the ominous threat against him, he wouldn't.  He was perfectly aware of how dangerous Yami Malik was, and he wasn't prepared to stand by whilst the psychotic maniac waltzed back in to do God-knows-what to Yami, especially after seeing the tape.

"Let me do something," Kaiba practically growled, his words uncomfortably close to a plea although his tone was far from it.  At Yami's confused look, he clenched his jaw.  He couldn't let Yami know why he was so intent to help, that he had watched the horrors that he had been submitted to at Kresha's hands.  He couldn't begin to speculate on how Yami would react to that knowledge, but he guessed that it would be a rather spectacular display of emotional fireworks.

Yami was staring at him now with narrowed eyes, his mind almost audible as it worked furiously to decipher Kaiba's motives.  At a loss, he settled for actually asking.  "Why are you so keen to help?"

"I don't want the situation to be made worse for you when you're clearly at the end of your tether already. It's bad enough that you've been through it, but Yami Malik's will undoubtedly want to milk and exploit what happened as much as he can.  He's already done it once and I have no doubt that he'll try to again."  

Kaiba hadn't realized his mistake until the words had left him, and he cursed himself internally for the stupidity of it.  Hoping that Yami wouldn't pick up on his slip yet knowing that the duellist still had a sharp enough mind to have undoubtedly done so, the brunette waited silently for a response.

As the CEO had expected, Yami became motionless as his mind scurried over the speech and it's inherent meanings.  He thought aloud though.  "You didn't come here because of what happened to me; Yugi told you weeks ago.  You cold have said something before now, but you haven't so much as shown your face until this morning.  Something else brought you here, something that you haven't told me.  And what do you mean by being exploited *again*?"  

Silence again as he continued to think and Kaiba realized that he was mentally bracing himself.  Creases in Yami's forehead appeared as his brows jumped slightly, and the spirit spoke to the carpet rather than the other teen, his words quiet as the truth sank in.  "The tape, when Bakura brought it to you…  You saw it."  The last three words were said to Kaiba though, darkened, crimson eyes fixing on cold blue as he spoke with a twinge of accusation.

Something snapped in Kaiba and his voice had raised before he had realised what he was doing.  "You honestly thought I wouldn't?  Christ, Bakura comes to me with some damned mystery tape and tells me to 'search for anomalies' or some such crap, and you think that I would have just let it go without knowing what it was?  Just how gullible are you?"

"So you copied the original?  Or is someone handing them out in the street because a disturbing amount of people have seen it too," Yami shouted back, completely forgetting that Sugoroku was likely still in earshot.  Not that he would have cared.  It felt good to get this off his chest. That last admittance was something that he hadn't told Yugi, or anyone for that matter.  Bakura had been there when the realisation that other duellists for a start had seen what had happened to him, and Bakura had been the only other person who knew about that realisation.  Now Kaiba knew too.  Disturbingly though, he seemed far less than shocked or surprise at the statement.

Kaiba felt a small degree of smugness in the deepest recesses of his being.  He prided himself on holding information that others didn't have over them.  Although this wasn't the right time or situation for such a feeling, he still felt some satisfaction in delivering a vital piece of information to Yami that he had been previously in the dark about.  He felt like he had at least helped.  His words held no less hostility though.

"Actually the whole damn thing was on the internet.  Came with a program to download it and everything.  Anyone could see it, but I took it apart so you don't need to worry about that one anymore.  I'm sure most people will think it's some kind of sick forgery anyway."  Kaiba noted to himself that the complexity of it all suggested that Yami Malik had 'convinced' someone else to do this for him.  The insane spirit was less than technologically versed.

Yami felt sick.  Although grateful that Kaiba had taken the images down for him, he still would have rather lived in ignorance of it.  He knew little about modern technology, but he knew enough to know what the internet was, and how many people had access to it.  Suddenly he didn't feel like shouting anymore.

"Leave," he instructed quietly, tersely.  He wanted nothing more than to be alone right now, but as he could hear the beginnings of movement upstairs he supposed that that would be impossible for now.

Ignoring the request, despite how the tone how torn at him, Kaiba worked his temper back down to something manageable and his voice to something humane.  He didn't feel that he should leave like this, with possibly even more hostility between them than before.  "I made a copy, yes, but I don't think any less of you after seeing it.  It was enough to make me come here and apologise though, and to offer any help that I can.  I gave you security last time; the camera is still in the shop and I can bring in another guard if you wish.  If you want anything else, all you need do is ask.  But for now.."

Trailing off awkwardly, Kaiba hesitated for a moment before he strode purposefully around the opposite side of the coffee table to Yami, stopping next to his silver briefcase before kneeling down to open it.  Working the latches silently, he felt Yami's gaze boring holes into his back but ignored the spirit subtly.  Finally opening the case, he reached for the bundle of dark cloth in the corner, nestled against his cards and a portable projection unit, carefully placed so as not to be crushed.  Standing slowly his eyes on the package the entire time, he reluctantly unwrapped it under Yami's scrutinizing gaze.  Judging by his posture and the light hue over his cheeks, he was quite embarrassed to be doing this.

Blinking with surprise at what was revealed, Yami tipped his head to the side slightly as he looked at it.  It was a small soft toy cat; old with its polyester fur frayed and dull but obviously well loved.  Barely filling Kaiba's cupped hands, it was black save for the white patches on each paw, the end of the tail and over one beaded eye.  The stoic CEO was holding its negligible weight as if it were something precious. 

"This was Mokuba's," he began, still looking at the cat, partly just to avoid Yami's eyes.  "He used to carry it around everywhere, saying it looked after him.  He gave it to me when I founded the company; he told me that I might need the help one day.  It's a comfort-device, and given everything that's happening at the moment, I think you could use it."  Extending his hand he offered the toy to Yami, his eyes fixed on the spirit as he accepted it carefully.

"Thank you," Yami replied softly, staring down at the stuffed toy, working his fingers gently into the still-soft fur.  A thought occurred to him quite suddenly, and he couldn't help but ask.  "Does it have a name?"

"Mog."  Kaiba only seemed to have realised that he'd spoken after he'd said the word, and at Yami's bemused expression he instantly back-peddled.  "Mokuba named him, not me."

"I'll take good care of him," Yami promised with a small smile.  

Kaiba shifted his weight surreptitiously to his other foot, glancing around the room quickly before crossing his arms across his slender chest and staring down at Yami.  "I'm going to want that back, you know.  When you're done with him though, so I don't expect to see it again for a few years.  Be careful with it; Mokuba will be extremely upset if it returns damaged."

 "I promise I'll return him when everything is more or less manageable.  Thank you again."

Not wanting to accept yet another piece of gratitude from Yami, Kaiba nodded curtly in acceptance before kneeling back down to close his case.  Locking the clasps and looping his fingers through the handle whilst he stood, he took one more studious look at Yami before looking to the door behind him.  Yami saw that, and promptly turned sideways to let Kaiba past, watching his retreating back as he strode towards the door.

"Oh and Yami," the CEO said, pausing with his hand resting on the handle.  "If any of you come up with some sort of plan of vengeance against Yami Malik, let me know."

Yami didn't have time to answer that request as Kaiba strode out immediately afterwards, having the door open long enough to see that everyone save Sugoroku clustered at the door before he closed it again.  Sighing to himself with an exasperated smile, Yami adjusted the cat in his hands so that he could hold it with just his right, quirking his brow at the creature as he quickly went over how he had gotten it.  

Hearing Kaiba's car pulling away and the anxious sounds coming from the people collected at the door, no doubt arguing in whispers whether or not to go inside, Yami took a large breath before walking to the door himself.  Opening the door, he gave the suddenly-hushed group a decidedly pointed look before continuing through them into the kitchen.  Yugi followed.

His Hikari started speaking almost the very instant that the kitchen door had closed behind them.  "Yami, what was Kai-"

"Yugi," Yami interrupted from where he was stood by the coffeemaker, debating whether or not to turn the appliance on.  Looking over to his Light, he tried to keep his expression as non-threatening and non-potentially-hurtful as possible.  "Kaiba and I just talked, and I'd rather keep that conversation just between the two of us.  But don't worry; nothing bad happened."

Yugi seemed to war with how to react internally, falling silent for several seconds as his gaze fell to the floor.  Finally he looked back up, is expression holding both confusion and a somewhat grudging acceptance.  "Alright Yami, if that's what you want." Another long pause as Yugi appeared to ponder what to do next, and Yami decided that he wasn't going to have coffee and started rummaging through the cupboards instead.  "I'm going to go talk to Joey and Ryou then.  They were pretty worried."

"Okay Aibou," Yami replied thoughtlessly, having stumbled upon where the cereal had been relocated and looking through the different boxes dubiously.  From the door Yugi quirked a brow at his actions.  Seeing Yami looking for food wasn't something that he was accustomed to.  He smiled though with relief and happiness, feeling that perhaps Kaiba's visit had indeed done some good.

Closing the door to the cereal cupboard as Yugi left, Yami opened the next.  Looking through the different items, he found several tins of soup.  His stomach growling at him again, Yami resigned himself to actually going so far as to looking at the different flavours before discarding the idea entirely.

After finding a flavour that he found particularly attractive, Yami set it down on the sideboard with his free hand.  He mused that this could work out fairly well; it was liquid, the taste was promising, and it was food, which he should starting eating more of very soon.  One glance at the instructions found that it was very easy to prepare as well.

Methodically running his thumb over Mog's head as he thought, Yami finally nodded decisively before moving over to the saucepans.  And later on, he had decided, he was going to get more soup.

****

Be nice.  Review and tell me your thoughts.  Anyone care to take any guesses as to what'll happen next?


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry this chapter took so long but it's up now and I'm really pleased with it and I hope you are too.  A huge thanks has to go to Ayod Botla and Pachelbel.  I have to put a lot of credit towards Pachelbel for the help with the dialogue for this chapter, in particular  Joey and Ryou's 'speeches' towards the end.  Joey action at last! Whoot!

**Kurama no Miko 2003: **Emotional depth?  Great, that's what I've been aiming for.  I agree with you in that fics like this, emotions are the most important aspect to look at.  Yami's hasn't been housebound for a year!  That would have been mean…  And you reckon that Yami will 'kick Yami Malik's psycho ass'?  It's a possibility I suppose… 

**Amm and her Yamis:** Okay, points for a weird and slightly random review.  You kinda missed the point of the toy cat, but yeah, it's a security blanket of sorts.  A source of comfort.  

**Ayod Botla the Dorky Goth:** Someone wrote your real name?  I barely know your real name… And I'm very pleased about the new picture for Dom's first birthday even if it's not going to appear anytime soon.   Ayod's pics kick arse, by the way, and a new bit of fanart would be welcomed.  Thanks for the compliment about Grandpa's characterisation.  Eccentric and wise was what I was going for. I'm pleased that Kaiba's less hated now, as was my intention, and it's nice to see that the unexpected appearance of Mog was well received.  That was a pretty recent idea, I'll admit.  And yes, Yami's eating more now.  He won't starve.  ^^;;__

**Nephrite Eyes: **Wow.   Your review was one of the nicest I've ever received!  Thank you!  You reckon Dom is better than Sub was?  Cool.  I thought the general rule was that the sequel was never better than the original, although I'm getting a lot of help from my betas on this one.  I'm delighted you think so highly of it.  More detail about the current Bakura v. Yami Malik hunt?  Next chapter.  After such a lovely review I'll throw you that one.  I'm making you all miss Bakura terribly before I bring him back.  (Grins)

**Tuulikki:  **Glad you like the story.  I'm gifted?  Sweet. ^_^  Thanks.

**Yersi Fanel:** Pleased your enjoying this, and just sit back and as for what happens next; just sit back and enjoy the ride. 

**AmunRa: **Wow, you've just read this and its prequel?  Impressive.  That's a whole lot of fic.  I'm flattered about you thinking that they're the most emotional fics you've read, which is certainly a compliment.  You're right; writing this isn't at all easy, hence it taking me so long to get each chapter out.  I'm glad I'm presenting it all well though, and I'll try to keep this up until the end.  

**KittKat:** 'Cute' chapter?  You're just saying that because of the cat.  Damn spotlight-hogging thing…  Pleased that you think I kept Kaiba's actions IC.  It wasn't easy, I assure you.

**NightMaiden02:** More 'cute'?!  Well, you liked the idea of Mog at least, which is cool.  You thought it was an original idea?  Thanks.  I've got a small comfort-type thing myself.  It's a little bird that's been into every exam and hospital visit since I was seven.  Pachelbel gave me the idea to actually give Yami something like that in the fic, so credit to her.  Glad you found Kaiba covering up his fondness for it amusing.  I can assume all animosity against him has been dropped now?  Good.

**Akuro: **Pleased you like the chapter, and thank you for the compliment about the amount of description.  Between each character's thoughts and Yami's feelings, it's tough to keep a balance sometimes.  And I'm glad you didn't think that the end was too sweet; the last thing I wanted was to make it a piece of fluff.  You understood Kaiba's position correctly, so I must've done that right.  And you like how Sugoroku's being written?  Yay!  I don't know how much more fic-time he's going to have, but since everyone's so fond of him, I'll try and squeeze him in somewhere.  You don't think that the 'nice and placid' feeling set up at the end will last long?  Clever girl…  I've still got at least four more chapters left in which to torture Yami.

  
**krisnkriss: **Nice to see that you enjoyed the last chapter so much.  Impressed by the complexity and fluidity of the story?  I'm having a lot of help, so I can't take all the credit for that.  Remembering all the little bits of the plot is hard enough, and having to tie up all the loose ends now is making things difficult.  Thanks for pointing out my errors.  To be honest, I can't be bothered editing the damn chapter again so I'm going to leave it like it is.  I'm intending to give 'Submission' a revamp at some point in the not-so-near future, so maybe I'll polish all of this off after that.  I made you think again?  Well, I'm glad I'm having an impact at least, even if you hate it.  If you think this is bad, wait until the next chapter.  *That'll* make you think if I can pull it off right.  Jailbird sounds cool.  Time in prison? Pish.  Just means he's got a different perspective on life and approaches things differently to most of us now.  Variety is the spice of life.  I'll bet he's a good beta that way.

**Cool: **Glad you're enjoying the story.  I know there's been a ridiculous absence of Joey for most of this, but he's got a big part in this chapter, so I hope you're happy with this.

**Anna:** Pleased that you liked Kaiba and Yami's bit and yes, Yami's feeling a bit better with his renewed appetite an' all.  How many paragraphs do you bet I'm going to allow that before I squish it?  Aw, so much praise!  Thanks for saying I have talent for portraying minds and personalities.  I'm interested in character development mostly in fanfiction so I get in a lot of practice at it.  There's always room for improvement though, so thanks for the rousing compliment. 

**Blue September:** Well, you certainly liked Mog's inclusion.  That little bugger's certainly popular, what with all the 'cute' comments I'm getting.  You were expecting a gun?  Good, you were supposed to.  I wanted a build up of suspense before I deflated it with a stuffed toy.  A shameless ploy?  Hell yes.  Those are the best ones.  A gun wouldn't have been as much fun to include either.  Thanks for saying that I got Kaiba's personality down well.  I was worried about him turning too emotional or deep or sympathetic, or too much of the opposite.  Joey and Bakura are much easier to write.  Interesting predictions about what's going to be happening on television.  I never liked Fraggle Rock but I always was a big 'Muppets' fan.  Watching  'The Muppets Christmas Carol' every Christmas Eve is something of a tradition in my house.  Smart move not to try and predict the end of this fic though.  I'd hate to get a new idea now that would throw everything else off.

**Pachelbel:** Aw, you liked it.  And yes, you sent me the links to your pictures of Yami with Mog.  They're up on my bio.  Anyone who hasn't checked them out already, definitely do so.  Kaiba was 'great'?  Fantastic!  And more calling Grandpa 'wise'.  The hopefulness of the end of the chapter makes you nervous?  Again, very clever. It makes me think you know something...

**Miss Sera:** You really didn't like the opening of the chapter, did you?  Fair enough.  I just wanted it to be obscure and have a completely different pace and tone to the rest of the fic.  It's only that little bit.   Glad my story is being useful to you in your own writing, which I've always enjoyed.   Pleased you liked the idea of the toy, and way-hay!  No nitpicking!  No worries about constructive criticism, it improves the fic, but it's nice to skip it sometimes.

**AG the master:** Interesting idea for how this is going to pan out.  You're right about some of it, but wrong about the rest.  As for Yami Malik being killed or tortured, I'll just promise that he'll get him comeuppance.  

**Choclate-Cherries:** You think Anzu and Honda should have been killed by Yami Marik?  Tempting, very tempting, but I can't be that cruel.  Maybe in the spoof...  Yes, you're right in that it was Bakura and Yami Marik fighting in the beginning there. And as much as it disturbs me, you got fairly close to the master plan in your review.

**Crossover Authoress:** You liked Chapter 9 even more than 8? Brilliant.  Hope you like this one as much. You thought it was long?  It's nothing compared to this beast.  If you can't wait for more Bakura, you'll be pleased with the next chapter.  Happy you liked Kaiba and Grandpa, and Mog too.

**Impish Pixie:** Aw, so lovely of you to say that it's worth the wait.  Updates for this fic take forever, I know and I apologise.  Life, collage and work seem to get in the way, damn them.  I agree, it'll be sad to finish this, but I'm planning another series with Ayod Botla, the sequel to 'For Both of Us', so it won't be too traumatic.

**Andi-chan:** Glad you like the fic.  'Different', eh?  Yes, I'll agree with you on that.  I'm pleased you think it's well written, and yes, I give thanks every day for my Beta readers.  This fic would be nothing like this without them.  I've never been to Japan so I wouldn't know anything about the weather.  Idea for where the idea for Mog came from is further up, and you're right; this is the calm before the storm.  The question now is: how bad is the storm going to be?

**Anairb Black:** You liked the chapter quite a lot, I take it?  Aw, I'm happy now.  Thanks for saying, again, that everyone is IC and that the interactions with Kaiba and Sugoroku were well written.  I had a lot of fun writing for Sugoroku particularly, and I will try to get him some more fic time, if not in this fic then definitely in another fic in future.  Yes, he's eager to help but he is being sensible about it.  Stupid idiots should have asked for his advice sooner, I reckon.  Oh well.  I couldn't have had half so much drama if I'd brought in a wise voice too early.  And another Mog fan too.  Well, he'll keep popping up but not too obtrusively, and Pachelbel's done some lovely fanart of Yami and Mog, so do check those out.  You want Bakura back?  Well, you'll be hearing from him soon.    

**Amiasha Ruri:** You like heartache and the such between Yami and Yugi too?  Good, we can be sadists together.  That sort of thing makes good reading, and loathe as I am, I'm putting their relationship back together now.  It's tough because I rammed them down such a dark hole, but the bumps that pop up because of that just means I can keep the drama.  Yes, Kaiba and Yami are at something of a truce now.  That's one 'end' all tied up now.  Sugoroku's scenes made you laugh?  Well, this fic is seriously depressing in some places, so I'm using him to lighten the mood a bit.  Glad it's working.  You're missing Bakura as well?  He'll be back, I'm not saying in what sort of condition, but he'll be back.  I've the next four chapters pretty much planned now and yes, a 'nice, detailed Yami M vs Yami B fight' is more or less on the cards.  I'm aiming to end at Chapter 14, but there's still a lot of ground to cover so it might spill into 15, but 14 is the going bet.

**Escuro de la Lus:** Thanks for being the first one to called the chapter 'interesting'.  The variety was nice.  In Britain, another old name for a cat is a 'moggy', so I cut the word in half, and hey presto, we have the name 'Mog'.  Mog was also the name of Postman Pat's cat, a character from some children's storybooks and a cute little TV series.  Yes, the first 3 paragraphs were about a scrap between Bakura and Yami Malik.  It'll become clear who was who in the descriptions next time, but for now****

**Domination: Chapter 10**

It was noisy in the house.  Very noisy.  Various shouts, peals of laughter and thuds of movement were just some of the sounds coming from the downstairs floor of the Motou home, and Yami could only relish it.  The house had become so quiet recently that it felt good to hear some signs of life.  Everyone had been ghosting around as quietly as possible for his sake for weeks, but after his apparently miraculous transformation yesterday, eating a substantial meal for a start (it had only been a bowl of soup, but it was definite progress) -which everyone was putting down to being primarily Kaiba's doing-, the other residents had relaxed considerably.  

And the tension had gotten to a breaking point too.  The problems with having three adolescent boys (Yami no longer considered himself adolescent) in the same house were many, and the remote control was one of them.  From what he could hear from the room he and Yugi shared, Yami wagered that that was what the out-and-out battle was over at the moment.  Sighing to himself, he guessed that now he would have some sort of come-back for when Yugi accused some of his ancestor's wars of being 'petty'.  

After hearing what sounded like the coffee table being knocked over, likely taking everything on it with it in the fall, Yami sat up from where he had been lying on the bed.  He had planned to try and sleep for a few hours, but with the racket downstairs he decided that that was going to be impossible at the moment.  So, placing Mog, whose ear he had been mindlessly twisting and untwisting for the last half hour, beside him on the bed, Yami glanced about the room for some kind of inspiration as to what to do now.  

There wasn't a lot he could do though.  The few possessions that he did own were in his room, and his room had become an unspoken out-of-bounds area, so fetching them was out of the question.  A large plastic sheet had been nailed over the gaping hole in the wall as a temporary barrier to the elements, but the debris, blood and vomit all remained untouched.  There was simply a bad ambience clinging to the room since Yami Malik and Bakura left, and no one had really gone in there since.  Closing his eyes with a sigh, Yami decided that he didn't want to be the one to change that.

Opening his eyes again, Yami glanced about the room once more and spotted Yugi's deck stacked on the cabinet next to him.  He hesitated only a moment before reaching out and taking it, bringing it carefully into his lap.  He flicked through the slightly worn cards slowly, taking in each creature before moving on just as carefully to the next.

He hadn't looked at his deck in a while.  He didn't even carry it around with him anymore, which was a huge development in itself.  He had a special pouch for it, one that rested comfortably against his hip, barely moving as he walked and staying secure when he ran. 

When times were at their worst it had held too many reminders though, too many connections to that which he felt he had lost and couldn't live up to anymore.  He wasn't entirely sure where his deck was anymore.  Probably in a drawer in his room, or maybe Yugi had put it somewhere safe.  He didn't know.  

His was merely a replica though.  Yugi's deck was the real one.  Like the Puzzle, he had simply created a duplicate of the cards to keep with him.  That way, he had access to them all the time, with or without Yugi, and he used to find that reassuring.  Now, with little faith in himself let alone his abilities in duelling, he could no longer feel a connection with his cards.   With the heart of the cards no longer working with him in a duel, so there was no point in carrying the damn things around.

Despite being only halfway through the deck, Yami replaced the cards atop each other and placed them back on the cabinet next to the cooling bowl of soup.  Almost rolling his eyes at the bowl, Yami forced himself to pick it up anyway, bringing it over to him and lifting the spoon to poke at the viscous liquid's surface, causing the skin that had formed to crinkle about the end of the utensil.****

At two in the afternoon, this was his first meal of the day, and judging from how queasy he felt having only managed to eat half of it, it was probably going to be his last of the day as well.  Yami couldn't quite decide if it was from under-use or simple depression, but his digestive system had become pitiful recently.  He had to actually take rest-breaks when the swelling nausea became overwhelming, eating too much too fast actually making him physically sick.  He was getting steadily better though, something that he was quite pleased with.  He wanted to regain some of his strength, sedate Yugi and everyone else's worries and then carry on trying to put himself back together again.  It was hard though.  Very hard.  But he had found things to drive him to it.

One reason for him to 'encourage' himself to eat was his Hikari.  It had taken Yami quite a long time to realise it, but by getting by on the amount of sustenance that he had been on meant that he mostly drew energy from the Puzzle, coming to rely on it greatly.  However, this had begun to affect Yugi in that Yami began to indirectly leach off of his energy.  Yugi had never mentioned it, so Yami tried to pin it down to Yugi simply believing that his fatigue was down to him not sleeping enough due to worry.  However, another part of him knew that Yugi had known about it, and was simply remaining quiet about it for his sake.  Either way, it was another reason to eat.  Kaiba's talk had given him the mood to begin, and Mog, Yugi and everything else was encouraging him to carry on.

Staring at the half-eaten soup now though, cool and peculiar in consistency, was almost enough to put him off his meal.  Taking a small amount up on the spoon, Yami grimaced at the taste of it and set the utensil back in the bowl.  Swallowing heavily, Yami put the bowl back on the cabinet and crossed his arms.  He could always have supper later.  Picking up Mog again and running his thumb along the smooth fur on his head, Yami tipped his head to the side as he noticed that it was completely silent downstairs now.  

Eyes widening as he listened intently, he felt his stomach tighten uncomfortably as he fell perfectly still.  The change from such noise to utter silence had seemed too sudden to be unnatural, and that was causing some very dark thoughts to seep through Yami's mind.  After a few long moments, he was certain that he could footsteps coming up the stairs, and likely to this room.  Trying to calm down, he reassured himself that it was simply someone coming up from downstairs.  But then why had it gone so quiet?  With everything that had been happening recently, Yami felt quite within his rights to feel paranoid.

Finally, there was a firm tapping against the door.  Still frozen by his own irrational fears, Yami couldn't make any response to that.  As he was watching, the door slowly opened.  It was just enough to allow the visitor's head to peer in, and Joey glanced about the room until his eyes rested on Yami, grinning when he did so.  The impossibly unruly hair obscuring a good deal of his face was evidence of the battle that had just occurred.  "Is it okay if I come in?"

Nodding with a sigh of relief, Yami felt the earlier tension that had tightened every muscle in his body disappear.  Shoving himself backwards so that he was sat against the wall atop the pillows, he brought his legs closer to himself to give Joey room to sit on the bed as well.  The blond, however, remained standing, his hands in his pockets as he looked out the window for a moment.  

"Yugi just left with Ryou to go to his house.We dunno what Bakura did with the tape and we can't just leave it there so they've, ah, gone to get it back," Joey said awkwardly, not looking at Yami although it was obvious that he was trying to.  Instead, his eyes kept skirting the bedspread before going to the window again.  He was clearly feeling very anxious talking about the tape, given Yami's association with it.

Forcing down any reaction that Joey undoubtedly feared he would display, Yami kept his voice steady as he questioned why Yugi accompanied Ryou.  It didn't make a lot of sense to him, although it did please him that Yugi had left him with Joey alone for a bit.  That certainly showed some confidence.  However, the moment that Yami acknowledged that, he felt a light touch against his mind as Yugi established a delicate link that would let him keep tabs on him.  He could easily shield against it, but that was the last thing he wanted to do.  Still, he found the link irritating.

Joey finally met Yami's eyes as he answered his question, shrugging a little as he did so.  "None of us really know what Bakura did to protect it.  Safer for two to go over than one, and since Yuug is more in touch with magic and stuff, you're left with my good company."  Sitting down at last a few inches from Yami's feet, he faced the spirit with a grin. "And hey, you should be pleased that Yuug isn't keeping a constant watch on you."

Scowling despite himself, Yami tapped his temple in answer to that.  The grin faded into something of a bitter smile, but Joey didn't say anything.  They both knew that it would be a while before Yami was well enough for Yugi not to feel almost constantly worried about him.  That was just something that Yami had to accept and live with for now.

A mutual silence fell between them, and Joey cleared his throat after a few moments to break it. "Mai's doing good," he announced.  At Yami's confused look, Joey continued.  "In the new tournament.  Yeah, she's through to the quarterfinals now, Mako too.  Odds are on Kaiba mostly, of course, but there's this new girl that no one's even heard of," he rattled on nonchalantly, seemingly pleased to be talking about the contest.

Yami frowned a little.  Although fairly reliant on luck, Joey's duelling skills were still quite impressive.  He'd have mentioned if he'd gotten through to the quarterfinals, and it was unlikely that he would have been knocked out of the tournament entirely at an early stage.  The only thing Yami could think of was that he'd never actively taken part in it.  "I thought you had entered that tournament?  You registered for it."

Joey shook his head with a smile.  "I couldn't go through with it.  There was way too much going on and I'd be away practically all the time.  I couldn't just up and leave all my friends, could I?  Especially you.  Besides, I'm duelling 'through' Mai and Mako, and that's good enough for me.  I'd rather be here, not that I haven't kept tabs on everyone.  

"Weevil got his ass kicked in his second match, and Rex only fell out recently.  He asked how you were when I last saw him, which was kinda weird.  Actually quite a lot of duellists talked to me even though I wasn't entering.  Wanted to know why you weren't thrashing them and you're not listening to a word I'm saying, are ya?" he finished with a raised brow, having noted some time ago that Yami's gaze had started wandering about the bed-sheets, his attention clearly elsewhere.

Yami seemed to blink in surprise before his mouth quirked in a small, guilty smile.  The mention of Rex had reminded him of the peculiar look he had been given months ago in the registration office; the one that Yami later learned had been down to Rex knowing what had happened to him.  Joey didn't know about that, or about the fact that the tape of his abuse and later suicide attempt had been put up on display for the world to see.  Yami hadn't wanted to give everyone a new excuse to show him copious levels of concern; he'd grown tired of that very quickly the last time.  But it had been a long time since he talked to Joey and he deserved to be kept in the loop about everything, especially considering how much the bond had helped him in the past.

Yami revealed this piece of information with a lot less hesitation than he had expected of himself.  Apparently he was still just as at ease with Joey as before; he could tell him anything.  He had no fear of being judged by him, unlike the other duellists.  That was, as he explained, one of the reasons he was afraid of facing them.  He had built a reputation through Duellist Kingdom and Battle City, and although he was perfectly aware that it had been bruised heavily now, he still didn't want to have that knowledge shoved into his face.

Joey remained quiet the entire time that Yami spoke, nodding absently at the end before staring down at his clasped hands.  A frown narrowed his eyes as he absorbed all that, turned over the implications in his mind.  He knew that Yami didn't need to hear his thoughts on it all; from the sounds of it, the spirit had had more than enough time to agonize over the situation enough.  What he needed now, as well as support, were words of encouragement, assurance that there was in fact light at the end of this very long and dark tunnel, and that it would get larger and all encompassing eventually.  

Inhaling deeply as he did so, almost as if preparing himself, Joey tipped his head to face Yami who had been watching him mulling in trepid silence.  Brown eyes flickering to the side briefly as his mind attempted to snatch the correct words to begin with, Joey unclasped his hands so as to illustrate his words with his usual energy.

"They ain't gonna think less of ya.  Hell, you've got to be one of the strongest people I know to go through all this crap and still come out standing!  A lot more people look up to you than you seem to think.  Heck, I couldn't turn a corner the other day without some duellist pestering me about ya!"

Yami glanced down to the two fingers that were picking at the material of his trousers on his knee, smiling a little.  "What did you say to them?"

Joey shrugged nonchalantly, a grin appearing.  "That you'd be back in action in a while.  That things will be pretty much the same as before when you're feeling better and getting back into it all."

With a sigh, a sound mingled from self-pity and a touch of self-loathing, Yami admitted something that had been plaguing him for some time.  "Perhaps, but I won't be the same.  I may be able to stomach going through the motions, duelling to fit my title, but it won't be the same.  I'll…  I feel like I've been damaged, that I can't live up to my title.  The Heart of the Cards has become little more than a myth to me now, and I'm afraid that it's always going to be like this."

"Hey," Joey cut in when Yami took a breath, hoping to cut off this rant before Yami really got into it and simply upset himself.  That and the fact that he hated to hear the spirit talking like this.  It pained him.  He cared about the other too much for it not to, and so he took it upon himself to try and help in any way that he could.  

"I didn't say that *you'd* be the same, just that things in general would get back to normal.  I don't know what normal is yet, whatever you want I suppose, but yeah, you've changed.  I dunno how to explain this, but ah, well, the last year, this whole experience, has changed you.  It's had a big impact on who you are and how you think, so you'll never be 'xactly the same as you used to be.  It's like you're more 'developed', for lack of a better word.  I bet in a year or so, you'll be more… resistant to this sort of stuff, because you've learnt stuff this time.  That, an' you can work off all this.  

"You don't wanna feel this way forever and so, with you being you, you'll make damn sure you don't.  You won't give in, you'll keep trying.  It'll be sorta a driving force for ya when it gets rough.  I know you pretty well, Yami, and I know that you're a damn good person to be around.  All of this is, coming through all of this, is just going to make ya better in the long run.  Life is all about experiences, and without that we don't really have a lot.  By going through this shit, you've got more extreme experiences than most people, ones that you can only learn by going through them.  And it'll make you stronger.  It's not like you've had an arm cut off; you'll get better.  You are better.  You've gotten set back for a bit but you'll bounce back, jus' like you always do.  I have a lot of faith in ya, Yami, and I'll keep on standing by you through all this, just like I did before."  

Yami's expression had tightened at some point during that speech, his mouth a thin line and the muscles about his eyes taut and trembling as he stared at the blond.  Smirking, Joey slowly reached out to Yami unconsciously waiting for a reaction.  Grabbing his shoulder when none came, he pulled Yami forward into his side, wrapping the arm about his waist solidly as the spirit placed a hand lightly on his back.

"What would I do without you?" Yami mumbled with a shake of his head into Joey's chest.

"Chain up Bakura in the corner with a keg?" Joey suggested lightly, recalling all the things that Yugi had told him about the spirit's most unusual relationship.  Stepping aside when Bakura had partially asked, partially ordered him to, so as to allow the two to 'bond', had felt risky at the time, but talking to Yami now after so long, he knew it had been the right decision.  Bakura had had a good impact on Yami, so much so that some small part of him hoped that the missing thief was okay.

His face still smothered against Joey's shirt, Yami spoke again after a short period of contemplative silence.  "I can only hope that the other duellists are as understanding as you have been when I face them."

"You make it sound like you're going up against a firing squad," Joey commented wryly before shaking his head a little, loosening the grip he had about the smaller teen in case Yami wanted to move.  "And of course they'll understand.  You won't get any stick off anyone, and if some idiot says anything, I'll pound them.  Sound good?"

Yami gave no reply to that, simply listening to Joey speak, the thudding of his heartbeat, and roaring noise of his breathing and the rustling of the material shifting against his ear as he did so.  

Sighing, and in doing so dragging out that roaring sound, Joey looked down into the jutting strands of hair sympathetically.  "The mind is an organ just like any other organ in your body. It needs caring for, simple as.  No one would say anything if you had liver damage and said that your stomach hurt. It's just that most people have trouble accepting the fact that the mind ain't some all-powerful thing that's above damage. But, it's a helluvalot harder to treat than the liver is."

Yami smiled into the shirt at that, clenching his eyes against the tears of relief and Ra-knows-what-else and taking a steadying breath.  Several minutes later, when he felt that his eyes weren't so damp anymore, he sat upright and eyed Joey directly.  Joey grinned and Yami couldn't help but smile back.  He couldn't remember the last time that he'd felt like this; relaxed and a little hopeful.  

"Can I ask...?  How'd you know about all this Internet stuff?  'S'not like you have access to it really," Joey asked after a period of silence, lifting his legs up onto the bed and leaning forward with his weight on them, his forearms resting across his knees.

Thumbing Mog again, Yami's smiled remained in place.  "Kaiba told me, before he gave me this," he stated, lifting the small toy marginally.  "He took apart the film and made it so that it won't return, told me not to worry about that any more, and then lent me Mog.  Apparently it used to be Mokuba's, some sort of comfort item."

"Like a security blanket?"

"I suppose.  I'm supposed to return it when I'm 'done' with it, undamaged no less," Yami added, his smile broadening.  The gesture had been uncannily good-natured of Kaiba, and certainly very thoughtful, but looking back the idea of the ruthless CEO with a stuffed toy in his briefcase seemed absurd.  It was a funny world.

Joey grinned unrestrainedly at that, laughing outright.  "Jeez!  Who'da thought?  Kaiba with a toy cat.  Aw, if he hadn't given it to you I'd be ripping him about this for years.  I guess deep, deep, really deep down, he does have a soft spot.  Doubt we'll be hearing from it again this century though…"

He seemed to trail off a bit awkwardly, his gaze drifting from Yami uncomfortably and giving him the sense that he was hiding something.  After a few moments during which Yami simply waited expectantly for him to come out with it, Joey rubbed at the back of his neck with a nervous smile. 

"Kaiba called here a couple of times, wanting to talk to ya.  We all just told him where to stick it, figuring that he just wanted to challenge you to a rematch or try and piss you off.  I didn't want to tell ya in case you got upset, but if I'd known that he'd have such a good effect of ya I would have invited him over sooner.  Whatever else he said to you did a lot of good, Yami."

Yami shook his head slowly, blinking slowly in a gesture of forgiveness.  "It's okay Joey, you were simply looking out for me, and I appreciate that.  I always appreciated that."

Joey grinned before beginning to fidget again, crossing a leg beneath himself this time and clasping both hands about his one raised knee.  "Y'know, I've missed talking to ya like this.  It's been a while, and now I've gotta admit that it feels good.  I'm glad I can start helping you again, like before."

Nodding, Yami bit his bottom lip for a moment, as his eyes feel downcast. "I'm sorry for pushing you away as I have.  When, all this first began, I wanted help because I didn't know what to do or how to cope, but for the past few months I've just felt like I needed to deal with everything on my own, that I shouldn't burden others with my problems.  I've been stubborn, I know, but I'm accepting whatever I can get right now.  I remember the state I was in before, and I know how much worse I could have been had you not been there for me.  I don't want to end up like that.  I won't."

Joey nodded slowly, solemnly.  "I get ya Yami, 'cause I remember too."

****

It had been only a day since it had happened, a day since Kresha had torn him apart physically and mentally, not to mention emotionally.  Everything hurt despite his efforts to will the pain away, but he wasn't going to let Joey know that.  Telling the blond what had transpired had been hard enough; he didn't want to be suffocated by pity.  So far staying in his company had been fine; he had his space, they talked, he tried to sleep, he choked down the damn pills he'd been given after an examination he'd much rather forget.  

They'd wanted some of his blood too to test, but he felt violated enough as it was.  He wanted his blood to stay where it belonged for the moment; in his body.  They couldn't make him so they hadn't forced the issue, merely telling him that he should definitely get tested soon.  He hadn't bothered inquiring as to what he was supposed to be getting tested for at the time; his mind had been too much a cyclonic mess.

A day since it had happened and his mind was still in such a state.  He felt torn, hollow and cold.  He drifted, not moved, was touched rather than touched; it was as if he was no longer a solid part of the world.  He wanted to break down but his pride wouldn't allow it and so he felt like he was going to explode.  Joey's presence didn't help that feeling.  His pride dictated that no one see him shatter into an emotional mess, that no one see him so weakened.  And so he didn't let him see.  After his breakdown after retelling the day's events, he had sealed up.  He promised himself he would not allow himself to fall into such a pathetic state again.

His body didn't happen to agree.  

He'd gone upstairs for an early night and left Joey downstairs, hoping that sleep would help to clear his mind and soothe away some of the pain.  The Puzzle seemed to be working slowly, but he'd pinned that down to the fact that it was cleaning up the internal damage before taking away the pain.  The healing itself also hurt at times and fibres sealed with blood had to be snapped apart and fused properly again.  It all hurt.  Lying down hurt, even on his side.

His mind refused to shut down, spiralling in more and more agonizing circles about what had happened, his chest felt tight and uncomfortable, and pain radiated from his lower body so that it felt like it encompassed him totally.  The scratches and bruises everywhere else throbbed and burnt with it, pitching into the concerto of pain his body seemed to have become.

Clenching his eyes tightly against the pain, everything, he brought his hands up to his face, shielding himself.  It wasn't working, and his thoughts and feelings were just getting more and more erratic.  Feeling desperately frustrated, he focussed now on calming himself down, but it was too late for that.  His chest shuddering as his breaths became faster and shallower, heaving but not taking in enough air and less with each inhalation, he was becoming light-headed.  The sensation combined with everything else frightened him and he wanted to stop whatever was happening to him, get his breathing back to normal and stop the hot tears that had suddenly started streaming out of his eyes.

But it wouldn't stop.  He couldn't make it, not on his own at least.  Curling into himself, gasping breathlessly at the flash of pain the movement elicited, his eyes snapping open once more.  The world was blurry and at a strange angle, swaying in and out of focus sickeningly.  Closing his eyes again, his fingertips and lips now beginning to tingle, he made some internal decision to get to Joey.  He couldn't fix whatever this attack was himself.  He needed help.  Pride forgotten, he managed to get himself to roll over, intending to get his feet to the floor.

His muscles had turned rigid though, and he ended up dropping to the floor with a loud bang.  The shock on the impact sent his breathing even more out of control and now, too light-headed to care, Yami simply ran with it.  

Moments later he vaguely heard footsteps, then something big was with him.  His thoughts in shambles now, Yami barely registered the presence, not even sure if it was there or not.  The hands that went onto his arm and shoulder were all too real and he jolted against it, teeth gritted so hard his jaw ached along with everything else and his breathing jumped violently despite it's already ragged state.

The contact had been too much, too obtrusive.  He was too wrapped up in his mind to want to have any contact with anything outside of it.  It was if he was struggling desperately to keep everything balanced; inside and outside of his head, thought and sensation, faintness and breathing.  He had been focussing so intently on the internal that Joey's touch had thrown the balance he had been trying to create off completely.  Everything seemed to explode then.

Joey had snatched back his hands at the violent reaction he had received, but he felt helpless just watching this.  He'd never seen anyone in this state before, and he had absolutely no idea of what to do now.  He wanted to comfort Yami, definitely calm him down, get his dangerously fast breathing slowed and get the whipcord muscles to stop straining so much against his skin.  He didn't have any experience to go off as to how to do all that, but physical contact seemed to work for most things.  Perhaps he'd simply been too sudden about it?  

Moving around behind Yami to fit into the space between his shuddering body and the bed, he laid down so that he was almost spooning the smaller spirit.  Desperate to stop that awful shaking and the sounds of Yami's confused lungs trying to take in air too quickly, he wrapped an arm about Yami's waist and shifted his own body to lie in direct contact with his.  Again, Yami jerked, but only once.  He didn't fight off the contact.  After a few moments the shuddering lessened to a tremble, however the ragged breathing remained the same.

Joey considered speaking to him, trying to soothe him, but gave up on that idea when he realized he had no idea of what to say, let alone whether or not Yami's jumbled mind would understand a word of it.  So he settled for holding him, breathing slowly and deliberately in the hopes that Yami would mimic him and making gentle circles with his fingers against his body.

After several minutes Yami seemed to exhaust himself and his breathing finally slowed, becoming deeper and more relaxed.  Disconcertingly, although his body seemed to have relaxed a little, the trembling still remained.  His muscles were still in spasm, and Joey couldn't begin to speculate on the sort of damage that would do if he left it to go on for too long.  

Cautiously releasing his charge, Joey shifted back to see if the loss of contact made any difference.  None.  Scrubbing a hand through his hair, Joey thought furiously as to what he should do.  On a whim, he stood and rapidly went to the bathroom, warming a washcloth under the tap before returning with it dripping.  Kneeling down in front of Yami now, and seeing for the first time the unsettlingly lifeless, wide-eyed stare that he seemed to be frozen in, Joey tentatively brought the washcloth to his cheek.  Intending at first to simply wash away the tears and sweat on the spirit's face, it took him a few minutes to notice that the easy motions of the wet cloth had relaxed Yami's expression significantly.  His eyes were still lifeless, but no longer staring, merely seeing something that he couldn't, something that was through him.

Feeling encouraged, Joey continued these motions, moving all about Yami's face, down his throat, up the lengths of his forearms, keeping his movements slow and rhythmical.  When he was done the trembling had stopped and Yami's eyes were closed, his breathing laborious again but now sounding like it was due to tiredness more than anything.

The washcloth cold now, Joey placed it on the floor beside him.  Nervous but far more comfortable with this relaxed state Yami had drifted into, Joey moved around so that he was back in his original position behind Yami, spooning his gently once again.  After a few minutes of listening to Yami's breathing, he heard a shift in its pattern before a barely audible 'thank you' was breathed.  Smiling to himself, he held the spirit more firmly and murmured 'you're welcome'.

****

That had been Yami's first anxiety attack, the first of many that were to follow over those few days.  It was also the most severe, and both remembered it, although Joey with more clarity as Yami's mind was in no real condition to record events.  That attack seemed so long ago now, that event partially buried with recent troubles.

Nodding a little to bring himself out of his reverie, Yami looked up once again to see Joey doing the same.  "Thing are better now, at least" he stated flatly.

"Much better," Joey agreed.  Glancing about himself as he began to feel restless again, he moved to stand, looking back down to Yami as he then began to stretch out the kinks in his back.  "I, uh, told Yugi that I'd have downstairs straightened out before he got back.  I hadn't expected to be up here for so long."

Smiling wryly, Yami moved to get up as well, placing Mog gently on the pillow as he did so.  "Come on, we'll sort it out together."

As they walked towards the door, Yami watched as Joey pulled the remote control out from his back pocket so as to walk easier.  Quirking a brow with a smirk, he watched as the blond switched the object into his other hand to grasp the banister as they went downstairs.

"You won the fight earlier, I presume?"

Joey paused a moment halfway down the stairs and glanced at the remote, chuckling to himself for a moment before confirming that he was, indeed, the victor of the earlier battle.  As they stepped into the living room, Yami found himself hanging back in the doorway as he surveyed the damage tiredly.  How they managed to turn the sofa that way he'd never know.  It looked like they'd had a go at turning it into a fort of some sort.

On his knees gathering the papers and odd cards that had spilled off when the coffee table had been overturned, Joey spared the spirit a glance.  "Sorry about waking ya up earlier, Yami.  I didn't know we were being that loud down here."

Yami stared at the overturned sofa for a moment before resigning himself to the fact that with his physical state as it was, there was no way he'd be strong enough to move it.  "It's not a problem.  I couldn't sleep anyway.  I was just thinking about things."  Taking the papers that Joey handed him as he turned the table back over, he flicked through them idly waiting for a response.

Joey paused with his hands on his hips as he too regarded the sofa.  It had been he who'd turned it over in the first place, so it wouldn't be a problem to put it right again.  It was just that he didn't really want to.  It was not only large but an awkward shape, and he couldn't really ask Yami to help him with it.  He was well aware of the other's deteriorated state.

Taking hold of one of the arms, he levered it up as Yami began replacing the items on the table.  "Still having trouble sleeping?  Fair enough.  When was the last time you got a decent night?" he asked by means of a distraction from the ache in his right arm as he held the entire weight of the sofa with it and tried to twist it with the other.

Yami gave a sort of facial shrug at the question.  "I suppose, a few weeks ago, when Bakura put me out.  He worked a spell to make me sleep before he took the tape with him."

The sofa landing with a loud noise, Joey came around and dropped himself into the cushions intending to rest a moment.  Glaring at the cushion that Yami threw into his chest, he shoved it aside before standing again.  "I dunno if Bakura told you, but that day when you nearly drowned at the park he had a little chat with me.  He dragged me off to one side when you were asleep and basically told me to back off for a bit."

Yami frowned, handing him another cushion.  Bakura had never spoken about anything like that.

Seeing Yami's expression, Joey quickly continued.  "No, I mean he told me in the nicest possible way, for him at least, that I should back off and let him do his thing, that he might be able to help you better for now.  He told me he'd teach you how to meditate which was kinda weird to hear coming from him, but I just got this feeling that you'd be in good hands with him, and that it was the right thing to do.  It was hard, I won't lie, but I figured that it would be the best thing for your sake.  And from the looks of it, I think we were both right."

The sofa now back as it was, Yami turned his attention to the curtains which were pulled to the far left with the plant on the ledge knocked over.  "The meditation exercises were certainly helpful, yes, but I'm not too sure about all the alcohol he insisted I drink.  I suppose it did help me to talk to him," he trailed off, scooping the spilt soil into his hand and dumping it back into the plant pot.  

"Yugi told me about the meditation and said that it'd been helping you a lot.  Sounds like a good idea, if ya ask me.  Um, since Bakura's gone I kinda thought that you might be having a hard time with it, so I went on the 'net and dug up some stuff for ya.  I printed off a couple of the exercises; they're in the kitchen in my bag."  

Yami appeared genuinely touched by that and turned to face Joey with a smile.  "Thank you, I appreciate that.  I'll look at them later."

"You're welcome.  I gotta tell ya, when Bakura said he'd be teaching you to meditate, I couldn't really believe him.  Teaching ya how to fight, yeah sure, but meditating?  That was something else.  But it would do more good than harm, I figured, so I didn't worry too much about letting him get on with it.  He'd never admit it, but he's changed a lot since he's started spending so much time with you.  He's still a bastard, but he's not quite so rough around the edges now."

Yami smirked.  "I'll be sure to tell him you said that when he returns."

Comically, Joey's eyes actually widened and he raised his hands in a peace-willing manner.  "Hey, I wasn't asking for trouble!"  Narrowing his eyes a little, contemplating, he considering wording his next question delicately but settled for just asking outright.  He doubted that Yami would appreciate any delicacy.  "Just out of curiosity, was there summut going on between the two of you?  No problem if there is, he seems to be doing you good, I'm just wondering."

Yami looked both bemused and exasperated at the same time, his tone coming out quite peculiar as a result.  "Everyone seems to be wondering about that.  No, I am not in any form of intimate relationship with Bakura, and I highly doubt that I ever will be.  The idea of it is just…" He shivered in revulsion at the thought to finish the sentence.  It wasn't out of disgust; he and Bakura had merely become too close as friends for something more to be anything but disturbing.

"I do miss him though, I won't deny that.  With him not here, it feels like I'm not making any progress despite all my efforts.  Right now I can't see how this is every going to get better, or how I'm ever going to get back to normal, whatever that may be now."  

The room now back to how it was an hour ago, Yami slumped down into an armchair and propped his head in his hands.  Coming up beside him, Joey took a seat on the arm of the chair and placed a hand on the spirit's back.

"Things are better now already, we both know that, and it's going to keep on getting easier, I promise.  Like I said earlier, it'll never be 'xactly like it was because you've changed, and everyone else for that matter.  You'll be better for it in the long run, just trust in that for now."

Dropping his hands to his thighs, Yami twisted to regard the raised blond.  "I'm never going to be able to thank you enough for all these lectures, am I?"

Joey patted his shoulder encouragingly.  "I don't mind, and I'm not planning on going anywhere so you'll always be able to get them.  No worries." 

****

Around to the back of the house, Yugi and Ryou had finally returned from attempting to fetch the tape.  Yugi sleeves were singed as were his golden bangs and Ryou was walking with a slight limp.  Neither of them had the tape.  

Having given up entirely on trying to get the tape and formulating new plans that would never actually work in reality, they had ended up talking about what was happening now.  Yami had been improving steadily over the last few days, yes, but he was still distanced, and that was still upsetting Yugi.

"I'm just worried about what all this time apart is going to do to our relationship.  We were close before, I could confide in Yami and he could talk to me as well, but now it's like we're strangers most of the time.  I know he's trying, I can see it when he does talk to me, but I'm worried that all this stress is going to have lasting damage," Yugi finished despondently as they reached the back door into the kitchen, finally admitting what he'd been trying to say in too many words for most of the way back.  After feeling Yami's annoyance through their bond earlier, all he could think about was his Dark half.  And when they found the tape in the basement of Ryou's house…  Today had been hard to say the least.

Stopping at the door but making no move to enter, Ryou's soft gaze considered Yugi thoughtfully for long moments.  Finally, he sighed as he endeavoured to explain his thoughts with as much difficulty as Yugi seemed to have had, shivering a little despite himself as he unconsciously attempted to dispel the tingling thrumming about his skin.  From the way Yugi was rubbing at his arms, it seemed he had the same problem as well.  

"Through this, you're both learning things and my belief is that either you would have learned these things eventually, or you wouldn't have and there wouldn't be as much of an understanding between the two of you as you'll end up with," Ryou said slowly, gesturing towards Yugi as he spoke and watching carefully for a response that would indicate understanding.  Yugi looked sceptical, growing doubts and worries that had festered over weeks now not allowing the other teen's words to sink in.

Exhaling heavily and putting a hand on Yugi's shoulder, Ryou shifted his weight again to take his weight off his throbbing ankle.  "I believe that given a little time, this will strengthen your partnership, not weaken it.    You're talking now which is certainly a step forward, but it's not all the way yet and there's still a lot you both need to sort out.  This is not going to be easy for either of you, but you'll be together through it, and that's all that really matters."

Smiling broadly and feeling the strong urge to embrace the other teen, Yugi decided against that as their skin was still tingling uncomfortably.  Nodding in thanks, Ryou smiled back gently before opening the door.  Stepping inside, they noted that it was completely silent inside.  Steadily making their way through to the living room to see if Joey had made good on his promise to clean the room they had destroyed, they were pleased to see that he had.  Not only that, but he and Yami were sat in the armchair talking quietly.

Frowning at the odd sense he was getting, Yami's head snapped to the side and his brows shot up when he saw Yugi's singed state.  He could also practically taste the magic seeping off of his Hikari in waves.  Ryou didn't seem to be in any better condition.  

"What happened?" he asked immediately, rising from the chair to stand in front of Yugi, his hands moving over his face and through his hair, checking for damage.  Yugi couldn't help but smile at the fussing attention he was receiving.

"We went to fetch the tape, but there was some kind of barrier around it."

"Shadow Magic," Yami murmured under his breath, his attention now jumping to Ryou.  Seeing the way that the teen was standing, he knelt down and encircled his ankle with his hands, barely touching the fabric of his trousers as he felt the heat coming through carefully.  

Ryou nodded, staring down at Yami as the spirit seemed to make his own assessment.  "It's specially attuned to my yami's energy signature, like a lock to a key," he added helpfully, glancing up again at Joey.  "I tried to break through it with the Ring but all that did was make an explosion."

Yami looked to Yugi in alarm then, demanding an explanation.  "Only a small one.  It was a warning more than anything else.  Bakura was actually nice enough to set one as well as a 'lock'."

"We didn't want to find out how many warnings Bakura was going to let us have, and we believe that the tape's perfectly secure right where it is, so we came home," Ryou finished as Yami rose to his feet again.  

Nodding, the spirit crossed his arms loosely across his chest.  "I believe you're right.  With Bakura's kind of defences, we don't need to worry about it anymore.  I think it's a sprain Ryou; nothing seems broken.  The tingling you're probably feeling will stop soon when the residual traces have gone."

Nodding with satisfaction, Ryou limped over to the sofa before falling back onto it, adjusting his leg a little with a pained expression.  "I must admit, it was a lovely change to be outside again.  I was beginning to get cabin fever stuck indoors all day."

His eyes widened a little as he realised how that had sounded, and he looked to Yami with concern.  Yami seemed to be thinking his words over though, his head dipped in thought.  Finally, he uncrossed his arms and faced his light.  "Ryou is right, Aibou, we do need to go outside at some point.  I shouldn't stay indoors like this if I want things to get well again."

Yugi's expression brightened instantly and Joey simply looked pleasantly surprised.  "Really?  Okay.  Uh, how about in two days we go out for a bit?  Let you get used to the idea before we leave.  The competition ends then, so we can find out who won too.  Sound good?"

Nodding firmly and remembering Mog upstairs, Yami clapped a hand onto Yugi's shoulder.  "I think that sounds fine, Aibou.  Two days."

****

It took ages, yes, but it's also extremely long.  There are only 4 chapters to go now, so every review counts.  Clicky-click: leave a thought. ;p


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N**:  First off, Ayod Botla has requested that I post *another* apology for the admittedly large delay in the last chapter.  She's a student though with a life and hobbies, and beta-work does take time so it's quite understandable.  I'm no saint myself either; it took me weeks to get the chapter out of Development Hell.   Moving on:  Thanks to Ayod for betaing this, and Pachelbel as well for doing a once-over of this for me.  I really appreciate the help, guys.  

**Ayod Botla the Dorky Goth: **Aw, my beta reviewed me. ^^  The chapter was 'a little boring' eh?  Oh well, it's done, and it was definitely needed.  I promise action and adventure in these remaining  chapters, okay?  Just so you won't be bored whilst betaing away for me.  And thanks to your hasty reply with Chapter 11, this one is up nice and quick, so no, it *won't* be my fault because this one *isn't* late. ^_~

**Bastet Starwind**: Yes, only four more chapters left I'm afraid, including this one.  Mind, the lengths of the damn things will make it feel closer to eight, so it shouldn't be too painful.  Besides, I think this series is quite long enough to end now.  Yeah, you don't want to have an anxiety attack.  They're not worth it, even for the experience.

**Miss Sera:** Very pleased you liked the chapter; I consider you one of my toughest critics.  I got this one up as quick as you could, and am I correct in assuming that you are curious as to Bakura's fate?  Yes?  Thought so…  ****

**Kriss:** Aw, so much praise!  Thank you!  I'm pleased that you like the way I'm writing Yami and Joey.  I bet you like Bakura better though…You reckon a nice long Yugi/Yami talk is necessary to clean up the remaining issues?  Damn good point and there will be one, but not for a little while as there's still quite a lot of other stuff that needs to be covered.  I think that discussion will pretty much tie everything up though.  Thanks for reviewing, particularly as you were at work.  I can't get to ff.net on the college computers as it's blocked (Damnit), so I am slightly jealous of you, ;p

**Amm and her Yamis:** First off, I owe you an apology.  I think you know what I mean, so I won't go into it here, but generally just a 'sorry' for my harshness.  So yeah; ego swallowed.  I'd love to see any pics you do for this fic, particularly those two scenes just to see how you 'envisioned' them.  I got this chapter up as soon as I could, and I hope you like it.

**Suuichi the RANGER:** Glad you're enjoying it.

**Escuro de la Lus: **Yes, the length had something to do with the huge delay, but also because the damn thing just kept growing and wouldn't stop.  ^^; 'Peaceful and rejuvenating'?  Yes, I think those are very good words to describe the last chapter.  Any bets on how long it takes me to kill those feelings off? The next big fic I'll be working on will definitely be Yaoi/shounen ai, and I'm flattered that you're enjoying this fic so much.  I really appreciate the comment about the affectionate character interaction. I was quite concerned about all that.  At an early stage (back in 'Submission'), I was tempted to have this fic Yami/Joey to keep people interested.  I'm glad I didn't and I'm very glad I don't need to.  I hope you like this chapter; personally, this is my second favourite chapter of what's in existence so far.  I have my reasons for that though, as you'll find out.

**Tuulikki:  **Aw, you that eager to read it?  That's kinda sweet.  I'm happy you like Joey and his chat with Yami, and that you can see the realism in how slowly Yami's recovering.  The flashback was too realistic?  Well, I wrote that from personal experiences, so that's about as realistic as it gets I'm afraid.  Getting it out on paper helped me to suss it out a bit better, so it's helpful to me as well as a good bit of entertainment.  There shouldn't be any more *horrifically*distressing bits left if it's concerning you.  And my descriptions 'rock'?  Feels great to hear that!   Was talking to Pachelbel the other day about how I'm jealous of her because she can say something in a handful of words, and for the same thing I need several thousand.  ^^;;  Oh well; bulks up the word count.

**lotus re-incarnate:**  You find this fic amazing?  Thanks.  I just find it amazing that I actually update it!  I'm glad the descriptions are allowing you to have a lot of empathy with the characters, as was my intention, and I'm honoured by how highly you regard this little saga.

**Cool:** Yeah, Joey is a sweetheart to have not participated in the competition for Yami's sake.  I doubt he would have just scampered off to duel and leave his extremely depressed friend behind.

**AmunRa:**  Yes, 'Submission' and 'Domination' are beasts in terms of length, and this saga is only going to get longer because as it nears its closing now, the chapter lengths keep getting longer.  Joey and Yami are good together, yes, and I know I've neglected Joey in terms of use since 'Submission'.  I hope I've redeemed on that with the last chapter though.  I've had a couple of complaints about Yugi's involvement in all of this, but I still stand by my belief that Yami would want his Hikari a step back from all of this.  That's not necessarily correct, but it's working for me and it piles up the angst so I'm going to keep running with it.  ^_~

You're right; aside from Bakura going AWOL, everything looks hopeful.  But you should know me and my wicked ways by now, and I *do* have four more chapters in which to play…  On the other hand, I could just surprise you all with incredible fluff and a happy ending.

**Anairb Black: **Glad I could make you love Joey!  Quite an accomplishment by the sounds of it.  'Subbed-version info of him'?  Not quite following you there, I'm afraid.  Cool that you loved the chapter, and you're really missing Bakura, aren't you?  Yes, I'm being mean not updating you all on him in so long. Heh.  I made you love him with his kick-arse wisdom and excessive drinking habits, and then I just took him away again (insert evil laugh here)!

**Blue September:** Long review!  Yay!  'Unwell' by Matchbox 20 fits really well with this fic?  Hmm, I'll have to look into getting that downloaded.  Can't do it myself but could definitely get someone to.  Ayod has come up with a lot of songs that go well with this fic actually, and I'll probably whack a list of them at the end of the last chapter for the heck of it.  Thanks for your contribution to the list!  Any other suggestions that have been accidentally discovered out there?

I'm very happy that you picked up on Yami's improvement being a subtle but visible one.  That was difficult to convey, so I'm pleased I was actually able to.  My Joey is loveable huh?  Great.  Of course, the only reason for that was because I couldn't stand the dubbed Joey half the time and so kinda 'tweaked' with him a bit into something I liked.  Bakura's a slightly different story; I tweak because despite the fact he's evil and cool, he's (well, Ryou) British.  Ipso-facto, my Bakura says 'bloody', 'sodding' and 'git' often.  I'm sorry, I found a tangent…

I'd been planning that 'glimpse' into how Yami was in the week immediately after Kresha for a while actually.  For one, the reasons he refused to return home needed to be clarified for it to make more sense, and I went into one anxiety attack in some detail in 'Submission' but never wrote one in as much detail as I could have.  Now I've done that one, hopefully there'll be a better understanding of why Yami absolutely refuses to revert back to that state.

More Yugi sympathy, huh?  He is trying, but I wouldn't quite say that he's just waiting for things to return to the way they were.  Yami's not exactly in the best state of mind and he needs to sort himself out a bit more before everything can get back to whatever is classed as 'normal'.  I reckon Yugi's just giving Yami space to do that first, but at the same time reminding his Dark of his existence.  And Ryou the mini Bakura!  Pachelbel pretty much came up with most of his advice, so that's credited to her, and I felt that someone should say it to Yugi because it was worth him hearing.  Bakura and Yami have that sort of advice-giving relationship, so it made ironic sense to have Bakura's Hikari and Yugi have that sort of relationship too.  It was tempting to have Ryou win the remote-control war as well, actually.

Sugoroku's still rocking, hmm?  You know, I was terrified of including him up until late and so I worked around it, but now I wish I'd had him in it from fairly early on.  Mind, things would probably be a lot different if that had happened.  'Adult' support is very important, yes, because it's realistic.  I promise to try and keep that going in these last chapters if I can.  He has more opportunities for the spiffy wisdom then.    Actually, he has a teeny bit in this chapter. And you're welcome for me hacking all this out.  I enjoy it in a way.  I certainly enjoy writing Bakura, particularly now that I'm in a 'oh how I miss him' mood. 

**Impish Pixie: **Glad you liked the Joey/Yami interactions, and that you thought the throwback to 'Submission' was good.

**Amiasha Ruri: **Well, you obviously liked the last chapter!  You're the only one who's mentioned all that stuff about Yami's deck, so thanks for picking up on that.  I quite enjoyed it myself as it explains some things, and definitely says a lot about the changes he has undergone in regards to his title as Game King.  Cheers for the compliment on the descriptions; I find they bulk up the word count nicely. ^^

Wow.  These Joey/Yami chats are going across really well.  Great.  I'm glad you find their interactions smooth.  To be honest, I find them much harder to write than Bakura/Yami chats, so it's great to hear that I've done okay with them.  Inclusion of the flashback was helpful then?  That's good.  The anxiety attacks definitely needed expanding upon.  

Yup, Yami's relationships with Joey and his Hikari are definitely improving.  A positive sign, no?  As for the spoof; well, its status is on my bio and gets updated when the spoof was.  That one is on hold for a while though as have got loads to do anyway.  I might not be entering Chibizoo's fanfic competition at this rate.  Anyway, I also wanted to add that I am thoroughly enjoying 'Eien' and I can't wait until the next instalment.

**Fanficmanic: ** Here's more. 

**Nephrite Eyes: ** So, you liked the chapter, but you think that I'm purposefully attempting to drive away your sanity by depriving you of information concerning Bakura and Yami Malik's current status?  Yeah, that sounds about right.****

**DJ Silence Yuy:** Hey, I resent the 'let the world celebrate' comment about me updating.  I'm not *that* bad at it, as demonstrated by this brilliantly early chapter now.  Another Mog lover, and I'm glad that the anxiety attack had such an impact.  A funny and a good chapter?  Well I just I hope I can continue to please.

**Ajuxliapose: **Yes, things are certainly looking hopeful for Yami now.  I'm glad the speech on experience was moving; it certainly was for me when I was first told it.  You've left a lovely review with wonderful comments, particularly that you believe this fic is meaningful and believable.  That means a lot.  And yes, I am most certainly proud of this fic.  

**AG the master: **Well, I've got it planned to be four more chapters (three after this one) and so it'll probably end at Chapter 14.  Possibility of a sequel?  Dear God, I hope not.  I can't really make any statement about that though; I swore that there would be no sequel to 'Submission' quite vehemently and uh…  that didn't quite ring true in the end.  But I will be writing another fic at some point with the skilled Ayod Botla as my beta, so you can look forward to that.

Domination: Chapter 11 

It was the day before he had resolved himself to venture out properly into the outside world, and Yami had found himself feeling increasingly nervous.  It bothered him that he was feeling so much mounting worry over something as trivial as going outside, but he couldn't help how he felt.  He had promised Yugi though and he knew perfectly well that it was something he needed to do, so he wasn't going to let his feelings control his actions this time.  Logic would win out over emotion tomorrow.  He could still be scared if he wanted to though.

Before he would have worked against such an emotion vehemently, seeing it as weak and stupid and of no use to his recovery.  But he had steadily come to accept that he couldn't do anything about his anxieties but live with them.  He didn't like to feel this afraid, but as long as he could ensure that no one else had to know, he could accept it.  Knowing the reasons behind his fears helped in that.  The last time he had gone out was the night he had duelled with Kaiba, and he remembered all too well how that had gone.  Inside was just safer in his mind, but then, Yami Malik had still been able to waltz into the house and attack.  Yami had begun to understand that it didn't really make a difference.  He would just have to be careful tomorrow.

Especially after this morning.  

He never received post, the fact that only a few people knew he existed making that blindingly obvious.  But this morning, he had received a letter elegantly addressed to him personally.  He'd been the one to collect the post having been up a majority of the night anyway and so it was easy for him to separate the letter from the rest, tucking it away to read later.  He had been afraid to read it, wary of whom it might be from and what its contents would be, but he didn't want Yugi or anyone else to know about it and so he read it alone.

To his surprise and disconcertion, it was from Pegasus.  After his previous meetings with the man, Yami was less than fond of him and certainly didn't trust him, and so the invitation to meet the next day caught him off guard.  Disturbingly compassionate, Pegasus had written that he would be waiting at a table outside of a certain small café around noon and that it was up to Yami whether or not to meet him, and that it would be fine for his friends for accompany him.  If he declined the offer, it wouldn't be made again.

The prospect of a mystery meeting with Pegasus added to simply being outside made the next day seem horrendous.  But, he was resolved whatever he might feel.  He'd consider meeting Pegasus later, possibly in the morning when he'd tell Yugi about the letter, and for now he'd attempt to quell his feelings.  It wouldn't do to be this wound-up all day, get no sleep tonight and be in a less than favourable shape for tomorrow.

Yami had been sitting in the armchair in the living room for the better part of an hour mulling over this.  Everyone was at lectures now that the new term had started, and Sugoroku was in the shop, so he had the house pretty much to himself for a little while.  Whilst he found some comfort in being alone and free from inquiring minds and soft words, he also found it a bit depressing.  He felt isolated and abandoned to an extent, but looking to the positive it would allow him the opportunity to sort his head out.

Flicking the corner of the letter idly a few more times, the paper soft and creased from where he had been doing it for so long, Yami abruptly folded it up and slipped it back into the envelope.  Tucking it down the side of the chair between the cushions, he leaned forward with his hands clasped and contemplated what he should do next.  He glanced down at the carpet and caught sight of the greying material about his left arm.  Sighing heavily, feeling no need to disguise his exasperation, he hefted himself up to his feet and made his way into the kitchen to fetch the first-aid box.

His bandages needed changing again.  It wasn't blood or infection that had dirtied them, simply the kind of grime that came from general activities.  It couldn't be helped, but he still hated changing them.  He hated exposing the scars that had been renewed against his will, feeling cool air brush against his clammy skin, seeing the sharp protrusions of bone at his wrist and along his forearm.  

Taking the ludicrously stocked plastic box out from the bottom cupboard beneath the sink, he placed it on the table and began to rifle through it.  Producing a roll of fresh gauze, he snatched up the tape as well before taking both upstairs, deciding to put the box back when he was done.  

He felt uncomfortable changing the bandages in any other room other than the bathroom, and he wasn't entirely sure why.  It had just become natural to him to do it in there rather than anywhere else.  He could lock the door in there, so that was likely one of the reasons he preferred it.

After putting both items into the sink, Yami picked at the tape holding the material about his arm in place until it came away and he could unwind it.  Removing his shirt and dropping it to the floor, he then began the task of unwrapping several yards of material.  

It would have been far simpler to use scissors to cut the bandages, but those twin blades made him feel uncomfortable anyway.  The last thing he needed was to put them against his skin and use them as a tool to reveal his wounds.  No, he found it better this way.  Unwinding the bandages himself also made it easier in an odd way.  

Finally he was finished, and dropping the twisted pile of grey material to the tiled floor, Yami regarded his newly exposed skin in awe.  The lacerations now looked exactly as they had before Yami Malik had intervened in their healing.  Smooth to his skin and a faded pink rather than fuming red, the improvement was vast.  

Yami had no idea how the wounds had healed so rapidly or why, but looking at them now he couldn't have cared less.  Grinning broadly and sparing the fresh gauze a mere glance, he decided not to bother re-wrapping them.  He'd still keep them covered as before, yes, but he felt no need to wrap them so thoroughly.

Putting his shirt back on, he gathered up the old and new bandages into his arms and carried them back downstairs into the kitchen.  Replacing the first-aid box back in the cupboard and shoving the dirty gauze into the bin, Yami stood for a moment as he thought about what to do next.  Finally, he passed through the house into the shop at the front, seeking out Sugoroku by a row of shelves.  The old man was stacking them with various Duel Monster booster packs, and Yami cast his gaze over them coolly.  Closing his eyes, he faced Sugoroku instead.

"Is there anything I can help you with here?" he asked smoothly, folding his arms across his chest as two young boys passed by the other side of the shelf.

"No, I'm fine Yami, but thank you anyway.  All the usual customers are back at school or college, so it will be quiet today," Sugoroku replied, standing with a sigh and placing a hand to the small of his back as the other held the empty box the packs had come in.  "You have the house to yourself at the moment.  Isn't there something you might want to do on your own, when no one else is here to distract you?"

Yami frowned slightly, feeling eerily as if his mind was being picked at beneath that scrutinizing gaze.  But as he thought about it, he remembered that he never had gotten around to those papers that Joey had left for him two days ago.  He could attempt the meditation exercises, he supposed.  As Sugoroku had said, no one was going to come and distract him.  

Seemingly taking Yami's silence as an answer, Sugoroku smiled warmly and placed a hand on the spirit's willowy arm.  "I'll see you in a few hours."  Moving past Yami back towards the counter, he didn't look back to Yami who simply remained where he was for a moment, blinking in mild confusion.

Sugoroku's ability to find exactly the right words for a situation unnerved Yami as much as it comforted him sometimes.  Still, he was right.  Dropping his arms back to his sides, Yami returned to the kitchen to pick up the papers that Joey had printed off and took them upstairs.  

Bakura had made a point to always perform meditation somewhere comfortable and safe, and at the moment Yami could think of nowhere better than Yugi's room where nearly all of them were staying at the moment.  He'd have to move a few of the sleeping bags out of the way, but it was the best place for it.

****

His legs were beginning to cramp.  It was becoming clear to him why Bakura had favoured drinking before sitting with him for long discussions or meditation; it numbed the nerves enough so the pain of restricted blood-flow couldn't be felt.  Or maybe he was just doing it wrong right now.

He had sat in the corner of the bedroom for nearly an hour now attempting one of the meditation exercises that Joey had found for him, and attempting was the operative word.  He couldn't seem to do it, which caused him to tense up which went against the point of the exercise, so he had to perform the starting calming exercise all over again before trying once more.  It was getting beyond frustrating now.

On paper it was straightforward, and the purpose seemed ideal for his current circumstances.  He was to imagine a bonfire in his mind, and one at a time place the things that worried, upset or angered him onto it and watch them burn.  It was made very clear that as this was in his mind, he could freely put people upon it too, even if what they had done to him was only trivial.  It all added up.  It was a way of parting with old concerns to reduce his anxieties, and in theory it could potentially work.

But Yami was having trouble with it.  Firstly, he didn't feel at all comfortable with imagining certain individuals burning to death even if it was in his mind and no one had to know about it.  But more significantly, it felt as if everything from the last year had clumped into one, giant mass that he couldn't take apart and was far too large to burn.  It was nearly suffocating.

Growling with frustration Yami snapped his eyes open again.  This wasn't working, at least not like he was doing it now.  Thinking for a moment, he made a decision that would hopefully help him with the exercise before gathering his powers about him.  

Tendrils of purple and black cascading about his peripheral vision, he allowed them to swamp him, encasing him in their energies.  He blinked once and the capsule of the Shadow Realm that he had invoked about him had engorged inestimably.

Releasing a synthesized breath, Yami took a moment to feel the buzzes of energy coursing through the space all about him before kneeling.  Adjusting himself so that he would be comfortable for a fair amount of time, he focussed his attention ahead of himself.  Concentrating, he made the bonfire that he had been forcing into existence in his mind appear before him.  It was several times his size and the flames encompassed every inch of fuel.  It illuminated nothing though, the blackness all around still as impenetrable as ever.  Even the shadows on Yami's face remained unchanged.

Smiling a little to himself at the bonfire's appearance, Yami then began to think about what he should start with to put on it.  He didn't want to start with a person, even if it was Kresha or Yami Malik.  That was too much to begin with.  No, something smaller.  Something that wasn't even solid.

Taking a breath, Yami settled on putting his friends' concern for him on the fire first.  He appreciated the sign that they cared, he truly did, but when received constantly it was irritating.  He honestly didn't want that sort of attention so much either and the fact that he had to work to avoid it, to show that he didn't need the sympathetic looks, was emotionally tiresome.  Yes, it was the first thing to be burnt.

He obviously couldn't burn a feeling, so Yami concentrated on giving it form to make it tangible, so he could actually watch it be destroyed, if only temporarily.  A fine mist, perhaps, which would flake apart beneath an unwavering, imagined heat.  Nodding to himself as he deemed that approach applicable, Yami began to realize it.

Just as he was about to create the mist, a newly appeared presence caught his attention and disrupted his concentration.  Standing and turning to face it in alarm, the bonfire vanishing instantly without a trace behind him, Yami extended his senses to find the threat.  He knew where it was, but he couldn't tell *what* it was.  It was masking itself, hiding its very essence fervidly.  Yami recognized it though as something familiar though despite its efforts.  However he couldn't tell if he recognized it as something good or something very bad.

Taking a step back when he felt whatever it was begin to move towards him, Yami attempted to harness his energy to get out of this realm.  His thoughts had become too erratic for that though, and the panic that the approaching presence was causing him did nothing to help his concentration.  He was trapped here, meaning that he'd have to find another way out of the Shadow Realm.  

Distance was as moot as time in the Shadow Realm so there was no real way for Yami to know how 'far' from the other he was.  He still jumped at the voice from behind him though.

"Now what did I tell you about coming here to meditate?  You can't hide from the real world, no matter how much you want to."

Whirling about so quickly that if he had been in the physical world he would have been left dizzy, Yami's eyes widened in shock at the other presence.  Cocking a slender brow expectantly, Bakura's expression remained impassive.  That was until Yami lunged at him when he closed his eyes tiredly, embracing the other in return, admittedly relieved to be seeing him again.

The Tomb Raider was just beginning to enjoy the reunion when he found himself being shoved back.  His own eyes wide in surprise now, he almost laughed at Yami's expression.  

"Where in the Seven Hells have you been?!  You've had me worried sick!" the spirit yelled without restraint, bearing down on Bakura angrily.  Bakura merely raised his hands calmly with a smirk.

"Missed you too."  

Seemingly realizing himself Yami released a heavy breath, straightening his posture and closing his eyes for a moment to calm and compose himself.  Bakura waited for him patiently, adjusting his weight to his better leg with a controlled grimace.  He couldn't feel the pain in the Shadow Realm, but there was still an amount of discomfort that couldn't be ignored to remind him of it.

Finally, Yami felt he could speak evenly again.  "Are you all right?  What are you doing here?"

Bakura rolled his eyes before snorting.  "I'm bloody great!  I haven't slept since you last saw me and I've been hit with so much magic I don't know which way is up anymore.  I came in here to heal up a bit so I can get moving again, and aside from the maniac that's switching between chasing me and trying not to let me kill him, everything's peachy."

"You're here to heal," Yami echoed absently, sinking to the floor and noting that Bakura almost seemed relieved to drop to a sitting position.  It was ironic; he had come in here in an attempt to heal his mind and Bakura had come to allow his body to recover.  He knew how the Shadow Realm worked in that respect as well as the Thief did.  

Just being here had an accelerated healing affect on their physical bodies and it was a good escape from any physical pain.  Unfortunately, some degree of concentration was necessary to get into this realm, so it wasn't a feasible method of coping with pain in certain situations.

Bakura nodded at the statement, glancing about himself before staring at Yami.  He had been away for quite a while and there were likely things that he needed to know about that had happened during that time.  But for now he'd let Yami take charge of the discussion.  He had a little time to spare before Yami Malik became a pertinent threat again.  He may be more or less hidden here in the Shadow Realm, but a glowing purple and black cloud was not something that the psychotic spirit was going to easily miss in the physical world.

"Where have you been?  I couldn't sense you at all and Ryou couldn't…"

Resisting the urge to check his surroundings again, Bakura clenched his hands so as to answer the question.  It had been a very long time since he was last hunted; he'd forgotten how anxious it had made him feel.  "In the mountains mostly, but that's only because Yami Malik ran that way.  I sure as Hell wouldn't scrap up there; far too dangerous, even for me.  The second day we were up there he sent me off a small cliff.  I sent a blast of energy at the bastard as I fell so I wasn't the only one landing on rocks.  I broke my arm on impact and I don't think it's set right, but it isn't my leg so I'll live with it for the time being, or at least whilst this happy hunt is in progress.

"I'm trying to lead him down to the farms now, through the forest in the south.  I don't want him coming anywhere near Domino but I haven't got anything with me I can kill him with.  After falling out of that window I haven't been able to concentrate enough to summon the Shadow Realm long enough to duel, and with all the energy I'm using to keep attacking him or stop him attacking me I was lucky to be able to even get in here."

"How are you here then?" Yami asked, already preparing to offer some of his own energies to support the Thief in remaining here for the time being.  He also thought that he might be able to convince him to take on enough to aid in his healing as well, although he sincerely doubted that.

Bakura waved a hand in dismissal.  "That's a messy story involving a farmer that I don't want to get into.  I've got enough energy to stay here enough to be able to run again, though."

Concern growing now, Yami had to ask how exactly his friend was injured.  He knew that if Bakura had so little energy, he would only be able to bring his mind into the Shadow Realm leaving his physical body in the real world.  That meant he couldn't leave the Shadow Realm with Yami back to the house.  And if Bakura was as injured as he was implying, it would be too dangerous for Yami to drag him through the Shadow Realm with him.

More than aware of the same himself, Bakura put off mulling over that specific dilemma for now and began to list off the reasons for why he had been forced to take a break.  It had taken him an hour just to put a significant amount of distance between himself and Yami Malik and even longer to find somewhere secluded where he wouldn't be immediately found.  Ra knew how long he had left.  But talking to Yami was good; it was distracting him from the tingling in his limbs and the general hot throbbing throughout his body.  

"My right forearm is broken, as you already know.  Erm...  My left ankle is sprained, I think, but I can't take my boot off to check that because I'll never be able to get the damn thing back on again.  I'm estimating four or so cracked and broken ribs, various cuts, burns and bruises and I smacked my head fairly hard when I hit the ground.  If I can get the swelling in my ankle down and the slight internal bleeding in my right lung to stop whilst I'm here, I'll consider this a good day.  Other than that…  Well, I haven't eaten for a while and I can't take energy from the Ring because I'm too far away from it now and this one's just a copy," he grumbled, lifting the Item about his neck before letting it drop again.

"Suffice to say, I'm going to be too tired to keep this up in few days, Shadow Realm or not.  I need to think of some way to end this soon," Bakura finished in exasperation, his gaze drifting down to his side.  The dull burning in his chest had finally stopped meaning that the bleeding had finally ceased.  It was just his ankle then, and his arm if he had the time.

"If you're becoming this exhausted then isn't Yami Malik as well?  He must have to stop sometime?" Yami asked in confusion, feeling truly pained to hear all of this.  He knew that Bakura wouldn't be having it easy ever since he ran off after Yami Malik into the night, but he didn't even begin to imagine this.

Bakura glared at nothing in particular at that, Yami's words causing a new hate for the homicidal spirit to swell.  "In theory the little shit should be a quivering heap with everything he's been throwing at me.  He's obviously draining his Hikari's energy down to nothing, which is a lot even with Malik trapped, and let's not forget he's got the Rod.  That on its own should keep him going for weeks.  I swear, the first thing I'm going to do when I get home is take that sodding Ring off Ryou and keep it.  I am *not* being put in this situation again.  Ra, I don't even know why I gave the original to him in the first place," he muttered, getting caught in a tangent.

After a moment, Bakura looked to Yami firmly.  "I'm guessing something's happened since I've been gone?  You wouldn't have come in here to do whatever it is you were doing otherwise."  Cool eyes darted to the spirit's arms, the sleeves pulled up just enough to reveal that the scars had begun to face significantly.  Smiling internally, Bakura decided to leave that until later.  There were more pressing matters at hand.

Yami cocked a brow.  "You can search my mind if I let you."

Bakura smiled bitterly.  "I'm being polite," he said flatly, deciding not to voice the fact that he was actually too tired right now to even do that simple thing.  "And besides, I'd rather hear you say it.  First off, what was with the fire?"

"It was a meditation exercise Joey found for me," Yami answered smoothly.  He found it a bit unnerving that he and Bakura were having a fairly normal conversation whilst Yami Malik was actively hunting down Bakura.  Obviously Bakura wanted to talk though, so Yami would indulge him even if he thought that discussing trivial things such as what had been happening to him was a poor use of their time.  They should be formulating ways to stop Yami Malik, but Bakura would have been doing that constantly for days.  There was no chance they'd be able to come up with something useful within ten minutes.

Bakura smiled at Yami's answer, a genuine smile that looked out of place on his features even if it did soften them.  "I'm glad to hear that the Pup still has some faith in that.  Was it helping?"

"I don't know yet.  It's only here that I seem to be able to make it work, and you arrived before I could really begin.  The exercise is to alleviate me of my anxieties and frustrations by destroying them symbolically.  I'm having trouble though," Yami admitted, thinking back to his first disastrous attempt at burning 'Kresha'.  It had instantly made him feel cold and sick, no matter how much he hated the man.  

Nodding slowly, Bakura brought his left hand to his face and rubbed at his jaw thoughtfully.  "I don't doubt you would.  Everything you feel is a part of you, so destroying any of that, even if it is only in your mind, would feel like destroying a part of yourself.  Something that would probably have the same effect but be a bit easier would be to shove everything into a box instead of burning it.  You could give it air-holes and everything."

Yami took a moment to absorb that realizing that that was probably a much better approach to the exercise.  He'd have to try that.  He would certainly feel much happier placing Anzu and Honda in a box than on a bonfire.  

"What was that look for?" Bakura asked suddenly, sounding quite bemused.   Yami blinked abruptly from his train of thought, realizing that he must have pulled a face whilst thinking about Anzu and Honda whom he hadn't seen nor heard anything about since they left.

"I was just remembering something that happened, an argument.  It's one of the reasons I'm here," Yami said slowly.  Bakura said nothing, forcing Yami to continue.  "It was three days ago.  I walked in on Honda and Anzu saying to Joey that all I'm doing is attention seeking, that I'm doing nothing to help myself and that I don't care about how much my behaviour is affecting Yugi," he explained with a sarcastic bitterness that made it obvious that he was speaking around a lump in his throat, that just remembering that day distressed him.

Bakura still said nothing, although he did look down at his clasped hands for a moment, turning over this scenario in his mind as he waited until he was absolutely sure that Yami had told him everything.  He was hoping that by lowering his head some of the dizziness would go away as well.

"I told them to leave, as did Joey.  I haven't heard from them since," Yami added, shrugging a little.  He didn't quite know how he felt about that.  He was still angry with them both for the hurtful and entirely unnecessary things they had both said, but he had known them for a long time.  He also knew that Joey would be having trouble with their absence, even if he didn't show it.  He and Honda were solid friends, and Yami expected that they'd end up talking this through at some point.

Bakura's silence and stillness remained and Yami resisted the urge to squirm in discomfort.  He was reluctant to say this next part; Honda had hurt him, yes, but he was still his friend and this next sentence would only incriminate Honda further.  "Honda left me sleeping pills that night that Yami Malik came into the house.  That's why I didn't sense him immediately."

A frown though Bakura's eyes were still downcast.  "Do you think he had anything to do with it?  Intentionally?"

Yami shook his head firmly.  "No.  He neglected to leave instructions as to how many I could take, but he didn't plan for me to lose consciousness like that, and I certainly don't believe that he knew of Yami Malik's involvement, let alone that he would break in hours later."

A quiet snort that deemed this certain train of thought as trivial.  "He probably just left them because he sincerely wanted to help.  It doesn't take a genius to work out that right after finding out that your assault was filmed you're going to have a bit of trouble sleeping.  We all knew that you weren't sleeping enough as it was before then, so he likely just wanted to try and do a bit of good for you.  Lucky for him too, or else he'd be another one to go on my list."

A fine brow quirked in amusement at that.  "You have a list?" 

"Can't be expected to remember everything, can I?" Bakura replied seriously with a smirk at the ground.  That was met with silence, and the Ring spirit returned his attention to the problem of Yami's friends.

Weary eyes flickered up through tousled hair as Bakura separated his hands and placed them on his knees.  Taking a breath, he tipped his head to one side as he finally straightened his back and spoke.  "I think you should repair this rift if you can, and soon."

Yami's jaw dropped minutely in shock.  That had been the very last thing he'd expected Bakura to say in response to what Anzu and Honda had done.  It would have been far more likely that he'd receive numerous tips on how to gut them with the least inconvenience to himself and his laundry.  

Laughing silently at the other spirit's expression, Bakura lifted his head to explain himself.  "You're having a shitty time, Yami, there's no disputing that, and the truth is you need your friends.  Now, I'm not condoning what they did and I'd definitely chew them out a bit before you make nice.  They were just being honest about their thoughts, but more harshly than I would have been.  I'm betting they're scared right now, and they're definitely not sure what to do about you.  

"They've not seen you like this and they were out of the loop about Kresha for a very long time.  Some ignorance and outright stupidity on their part can be excused.  Try and patch things up 'cause you might need their support later on, but only if you want to.  I can always 'discipline' them when I get back," he finished with a slow smile, his eyes darkening as his lids dropped.  Even this tired he could still look menacingly sadistic.  It was something of a source of pride for the infamous Tomb Raider.

"I'll consider it," Yami replied, in answer to that last offer and to the advice about speaking to them and smoothing the incident over.  It was the only thing he could say.  He'd need some time to think it over and he'd definitely have to consult the others at home about it.  He wasn't too sure how they'd respond to the idea.

Making an affirming noise in his throat, Bakura nodded once sharply.  "Now, anything else that I should know about?"

Yami frowned as he thought.  "Well, Joey and Ryou have moved into the house for the time being, and Yugi and Ryou tried to retrieve the tape yesterday."

Bakura grinned outright, but this was a grin that did suit his face.  "Let me guess; they didn't get it?"  The other spirit shook his head with a small, restrained smile.  "Good.  I made that barrier as strong as I could.  I'd have been very worried if my *Hikari* could get through it."

Moving swiftly over that, Yami continued on.  "Yugi and I are talking more now, which is a vast improvement."

"I'll bet," Bakura agreed appearing pleased.  "Is it as hard as you thought it would be?"

"No, but the nature of our relationship has definitely changed.  I believe it will be a long time until we are again as we once were."  A pause.  "Oh, and Kaiba visited the other day."

Bakura was standing inside of half a second.  "What?!  Right, the minute I'm through with Yami Malik I'm hunting him down.  I'm going to rip out his still-beating heart and make him and his stupid brother watch me *eat* it," he snarled viciously, gesturing violently but stopping with clenched eyes when an unfamiliar sense of nausea tore into his mind.  Before the dizziness could make him drop to the 'ground' Yami's hands were on his shoulders, guiding him back into a sitting position and only realising him when he stopped swaying.

"Please, calm down.  Kaiba didn't do anything to me, in fact he's helped a lot," Yami implored, watching Bakura's paled face with worry.  He grimaced internally as he realised what he'd have to say next, what he had to repeat again after already spending days agonizing over it.  "It turns out that the contents of the tape were accessible to the world on the Internet.  Ra, Yugi could have seen it if he had opened the file!  He took it apart though, and he gave me something to help me overcome all of this."

Bakura managed to open his eyes then, slowly at first so as to re-establish his sense of balance.  Being in the Shadow Realm didn't help with that a great deal.  "Tranquilliser?"  

Yami gave a small, relieved smile when the Tomb Raider opened his eyes fully.  His concern for the spirit was growing with each passing minute.  "Actually it was a toy cat."

"You're kidding," Bakura said flatly, not believing that statement at all.  Yami merely shook his head, his smile still in place.  The thief raised his brows and sat back slowly.  "Well, shite.  That's better for him than shouting at you, I suppose.  Hmm.  I'm guessing the Pup's having a field day with this?"

Nodding silently, Yami decided not to incriminate Joey or make any sort of mockery of Kaiba's gesture.  It was a genuinely thoughtful gesture and was turning out to be a great asset to him.  Yami still couldn't help but have a little needle at the CEO though.  "It's called Mog."

Bakura barked a laugh, shaking his head slowly in disbelief.  "Well damn, the git has a heart after all.  So there would have been something for me to tear out and bite into then?  I'll remember that."    

There was silence between them for a while, Bakura realizing that there was something he was going to ask Yami before Yami Malik had turned up, and Yami seeing that the Tomb Raider was thinking and waiting patiently.  Finally, Bakura snapped his fingers and looked up at Yami with something akin to triumph.  That look quickly died away though just before he uttered the words.

"Yami, it hadn't occurred at first but I think it's a possibility; after Kresha attacked you the first time, did you go to a doctor or anything?" he asked, his face intently serious.

"Yes, the next day with Joey.  I was, bleeding, and I thought it was dangerous.  I think they could tell what had happened from the wounds despite me not telling them," Yami murmured, thinking back to that day.  He had developed a hatred of anything doctor-related since then, which was one of the reasons why he had been so afraid when he had awoken in hospital after Yami Malik's attack.  The memory of prodding hands and inquisitive questions was still too vivid.

"Did they take some of your blood and test it?" Bakura pressed on, his tone making it very clear that the conversation had turned serious.

Yami shook his head with a scowl.  "They wanted to, but I didn't let them.  I barely coped with them touching me at all; I didn't want a needle anywhere near me."

Bakura closed his eyes with a sigh at that, sitting back so that he was leaning on his hands behind his back.  "Damnit…  That could be a problem," he said quietly, his eyes still closed.

Confused but with a feeling of alarm rising in his chest, Yami attempted to dispel the Tomb Raider's fears.  "It's fine, Bakura.  I know about STDs and I'm a spirit, so I couldn't have caught anything even if Kresha did have something."

White hair splashed out in all directions with the speed at which Bakura's head snapped back down again.  His pupil's dilating and contracting again inside the space of two seconds was the only sign that the action had made him dizzy, his mind as intent as his tone was.  "No, you could have.  Think about it; how long was it until you went back in the Puzzle since then?  Have you even gone back in at all?"

Yami's eyes widened as the truth of that sunk in, the feeling of panic in his chest coupled now with a cold ache of dread.  

"You've been in a physical state more than long enough for anything he could have passed onto you to take hold.  Hell, it would be a part of your body now and the Puzzle wouldn't be able to do anything about it," Bakura almost shouted, realizing himself when he saw Yami's expression and how alarmed it was.  Sighing, he brought back the hand he had been gesturing with and clenched it tightly.  

"I didn't mean to scare you, and I'm sorry.  This is just a real concern that you're going to have to get checked out.  You may be right though, and you may be completely clean.  But you need to be sure, if not for your sake then for mine," he added with a dry smile.  It had only really sunk in whilst they had been separated how much he truly cared for the other spirit.  They were definitely entrenched friends, and he was going to make sure that Yami was okay.  Coming back to check on Yami's health would just be even more incentive for him to survive the next few days and kill Yami Malik.

Yami took a steadying breath, his eyes fixed firmly on the floor.  He had never considered any of this before, and he was glad for his ignorance up until this point.  With everything else going on, he didn't need the idea that he could be ill hanging over his head.  He wasn't entirely sure if anything like this could kill him; he knew he could be killed by certain means, but he didn't know if illness was one of them.  But that wasn't the issue.  What if he did have something and it passed on to Yugi?  What if it already had?  He couldn't think about this now.  There was nothing he could do about it now.  He'd have to have a blood test before he could really start worrying, although he hoped with every fibre of his being that there was nothing wrong with him.  If there was and he'd given it to Yugi… He didn't know if he would be able to live with himself.  He'd done enough to his undeserving Hikari as it was.

"I'm going out tomorrow with Yugi, Joey and Ryou.  I could make an appointment this afternoon and see a doctor tomorrow," Yami finally said, his voice wavering a little despite his efforts to keep it steady.  He paused a moment as a thought struck him, his eyes widening a moment before closing in exasperation with a sigh.  "No, I can't.  Not tomorrow at least."

Bakura felt his temper rise a little.  Knowing that Yami Malik was still out there looking for him and that he was still too tired to do anything about it had understandably made the thief far more agitated than normal.  Usually had a very large amount of patience when it came to Yami, but right now Bakura did not need a seemingly unnecessary delay in finding out if Yami was still healthy.  He already had enough to worry about as it was.

"Why the hell not?  This is bloody serious Yami, and I wouldn't even *consider* putting it off for an hour let alone a day."

Surprisingly Yami didn't flinch beneath that tone, far too wrapped up in his own thoughts to really notice it.  "No, it's not that…  I received a letter from Pegasus this morning."

Anger evaporating, Bakura was now left feeling warily curious.  "What did he want?"

"He wants to meet with me tomorrow to tell me something, at a café in town.  He says he won't force the issue, but he obviously wants to talk to me as he said I could bring my friends if it would put me more at ease," Yami explained, recalling the elegant script that was still tucked away amongst the cushions downstairs.

"Strange.  Well, if you do go, definitely take someone with you.  Personally I think it might be beneficial to hear him out about whatever he wants to say.  This man does not approach individuals unless he has something very serious on his mind.  Yes, last time he contacted you he stole old man Motou's soul and he might not be interested in pleasantries this time around either, but just for the sake of curiosity I'd see him."

Yami nodded, deciding that that was reasonably.  "He wants to meet me at noon."

"That's fine then.  You can get an early appointment with the doc later and then carry on to Pegasus afterwards tomorrow.  Then that'll be two things off your mind in the same morning."

"That sounds, rational," Yami agree thoughtfully.  Resigning himself to his fate, his gaze fell to the vicinity of his knees.  "I'll call the surgery later."

Bakura nodded at that, satisfied.  "Okay.  It would take a few days to get the results back and I'll do my damnedest to be back with you by then.  It should be okay though.  Don't worry yourself sick over it just now.  There's nothing you can do about it until you've seen a doctor."

Yami didn't respond at all to that, his gaze remaining on the inky blackness of the 'ground'.  Bakura glanced about himself once again with uncertainty, realizing suddenly that his ankle had stopped throbbing.  It had healed sufficiently now.  His arm was still a wreck and being here didn't seem to be helping it at all.  He'd have to re-break it before it could set and heal properly.  But he couldn't help that now.  He'd be able to run again now, be able to fight for a little longer.  The reasons for winning this were mounting, and he would be damned if he failed.  He refused to.

Seeing that Yami was still lost in his own thoughts and the turmoil his words had caused him, Bakura exhaled softly and rose onto his knees.  Leaning forward slowly, he put an arm about Yami and pulled him into his chest.  Yami grabbed his arm in turn and wrapped an arm about his waist, a tremble running through his entire body.  Pained and tired, Bakura bowed his head into the other's hair and clenched his eyes shut.  He wished he could stay here, away from Yami Malik and his bolts of searing magic with Yami, comforting the younger spirit.  He couldn't believe how much shit the universe was raining down on the Game King, and certainly couldn't believe how he'd managed to stay both alive and sane through it.  He didn't want to see that status change now.

An unexpected reverberating 'boom' sounded all around them, and Bakura felt a rush of cold race up his spine.  It wasn't pain at all; he was safe inside the little bubble of Shadow Realm erected around his physical body.  The noises and the sensations were just 'echoes' from Yami Malik's magic trying to penetrate it.  It wouldn't stay impenetrable forever though, and the energy he had stolen to be in the Shadow Realm was almost gone.  It was time to go.

Jerking against Yami, Bakura tightened his arms once more before pushing him away.  Steeling himself, he rose to a standing position with Yami who seemed to have sensed what had happened as well.

"He's found me.  I've got to go.  I don't know if I'll be able to stop like this again, so don't wait for me here because chances are I'm not going to have a chance to now.  I'll be back in Domino soon though, I promise.  Just look after yourself now and remember what I told you.  Meditate before you see the doctor tomorrow and tell Yugi what's going on.  He'll need to know as much as you do," he said rapidly, already gathering the energy he'd stolen to take himself back into his physical body that he'd left behind.

Yami nodded anxiously, his jaw tightening as he regarded the other spirit realizing that it was possible that this would be the last time he'd ever see him.  "Good luck, and thank you."

Just as Bakura's form began to disintegrate, another sound of attack thundering through the Shadow Realm, he gave one final instruction.  "Tell my Hikari that I'm going to thump him for giving me the Ring's duplicate."

And then he was gone, and Yami was left alone once more.  Frozen, Yami stood for several minutes in shock listening to the silence that accompanied Bakura's departure.  Then, sinking to his knees, he forced the heels of his hands into his eyes to hold back the tears.  

****

The first thing Bakura noted when his physical eyes snapped open was that the tree above him was on fire, the leaves crackling down to powder and the thick branches burning through.  A large one positioned spitefully above the spirit's head gave an almighty crack before it broke free, tumbling down through the other pieces of wood before landing heavily in the spot where Bakura had just been.

Disorientated from just returning to this realm, Bakura thanked Ra that his ankle had been strong enough for him to arch and jump to his feet and out of the way of what would have been a very nasty injury.  Feeling a growing heat and loud cackling behind him, he leapt to the side just in time to dodge the crackling ball of Shadow Magic that Yami Malik had flung at him.  His face twisting into a snarl, Bakura formed his own bolt of magic in his good hand and flung it with as much force as he could muster.  

Apparently not expecting the thief to have recovered that much strength, Yami Malik was unable to deflect it and had to resort to dropping to the ground to avoid getting hit.  That was all the head start that Bakura needed and he tore off into the trees immediately, cradling his broken arm against his chest and angling his body forwards as he plunged through the brushwood.  

He needed to find a farm again and collect some kind of weapon; a scythe or an axe.  Hell, a decent length of rope would prove useful right now.  At the moment he had nothing save for one good arm and a draining energy reserve.  He was miles from Domino and Yami Malik's homicidal tendencies were fixated solely on him.

He had to think of something quickly or he was done for, and he'd been a killer long enough to know that that wasn't something to be disputed when the hunter was as intent as Yami Malik was.  Their roles were reversed from when they'd started out; he had switched from hunter to hunted the moment he was more tired and had sustained more injuries than Yami Malik.  This put him at an enormous disadvantage and there was nothing he could do about it.  

In Bakura's mind, he was either going to kill Yami Malik or get them both killed off in the same stunt.  As long as the Rod's spirit wasn't in this world anymore, as long as he couldn't cause anymore harm to those he cared about, he'd die happy.

His pace slowing as he suddenly realised that the hot sounds of flying energy had vanished, Bakura glanced behind him to see what exactly Yami Malik was up to.  Stopping entirely when he saw that the path between the shrubs he had made was completely clear, Bakura looked about himself slowly, taking in every part of his surroundings with wide eyes. 

It was far too quiet; even the birds were silent from where they had been screeching up a racket.  It was as if everything around him was holding its breath in anticipation of some climatic moment, a moment Bakura was quite sure he didn't want to be present for.  Checking behind him once again, Bakura pulled his arm tighter to himself and turned to take off to the side straight through the trees to make his pursuit that much harder.

He didn't get very far.

Coughing violently and bringing his fit hand to his rapidly bruising throat, Bakura looked up from the mossy ground through black spots to see what he'd hit.  Yami Malik twirled the Rod elegantly so that the part he had sent into Bakura's trachea was back in his palm, stepping over the tangle of tree roots and human limbs so that he was stood directly over the downed spirit.  

Yami Malik smiled thinly, twisting the Item so that the Millennium Eye hovered exactly over Bakura's narrowed ones.  "Got you."

And then the world turned white.

****

Gee, and I bet you were all really happy for a few minutes there.  I'm afraid that cliffy will likely be in place for some time due to family related issues and the difficultly of the next chapter.  This chapter is up quickly and is very long partially because of that; you can't really complain now. ^_~  But, all comments are encouraging, so please be kind enough to leave a review.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: *Jeez*, this took a long time to do.  Plenty of reasons for that, all along the lines of writer's block and family issues, but it's finally here!  And the saga is nearly finished to boot.  Hopefully you lot haven't all lost faith in me in the months of silence on this piece's front.

A big thanks go to Ayod Botla and Pachelbel for betaing this, and the former extends an apology for the delay.  Ignore that as the delay was by far more my fault than anyone else's.  

Reviewer responses now (and wow the amount has me tingly) and then on with the fic!

Chocolate-Cherries: You seriously found it unusual for *me* to leave a cliffy?  You odd little person.  (Grins) Glad you're liking this all so much, and definitely pleased that you're not at all miffed about the lack of shounen-ai/yaoi/pairings.  Seriously.  Very pleased.  Aw, and Mog thanks you for calling him adorable.  You have a bad feeling about Bakura's future?  Quite perceptive of you.  As for him having the Millennium Eye in his possession; well, Ryou had the 'original' of the Ring so it isn't a stretch that he'd have the Eye as well.  And since Bakura's not connected to that like he is the Ring, there's no copy for him as a yami.

It'sHardToBelieve: Thanks for the sympathies about my 'family troubles'.  Everything is much better now so I could pick all this up again, and you'll have your curiosity satisfied in this chapter.  

Dark Raptor: (Laughs) No worries that you haven't reviewed so far.  You reviewed Chapter 11 and called it awesome!  Forgiveness thus follows!  I'm so cheap…

trekkie-54: Sorry I couldn't update soon (at even the greatest stretch of the word) but the cliffies shall be stopped and resolved soon!  Only two chapters to go now.

Dark Akuryou: 'Don't do anything evil to Bakura'?  What on earth gave you the impression that I would?  And the begging for his safety is cute.   My plans for his immediate future are unchanged, but it's cute.  And thank you so much for the compliments!  Ego is big and bouncy now.

Emsly: Huge fan, eh?  And oodles of nice words!  Overall, very pleased to meet you, and equally so that I got you into Darkshipping.  Those boys just look *good* together.  Thanks for saying that this is better than 'Submission'.  There's a curse that sequels rarely live up to their predecessors and I've done my best to avoid it.  Very happy to hear that I have.  Yeah, the anxiety attack was a bit hectic.  It's not something that everyone's experienced, so I wanted to make it as clear and understandable as possible.  It's handy that I had quite a bit of experience behind me for that little scene.  

You've overjoyed me by mentioning the meditation.  I've really gotten into it with the same viewpoint as you, but quite a few people just see it as kooky.  At least I've got Bakura spouting it, eh?  Yeah, you do sense Yami/Joey.  It was an idea I toyed with but killed off, and Yami/Bakura is not going to happen.  Friends and that's it.  No room for quibbling.  Feel free to quibble over how Yami Malik is going to suffer though.  He seems to have accumulated enemies…  

Mintvee: Fair enough if you don't like how Bakura has been characterized.  The characters on the show have never been in this kind of situation so it's pretty much open to speculation how they would react, but I have tried to remain faithful to what I do know of them, Bakura included. Why did the world turn white? Well, whenever I've been struck in the face I see white so… yeah.  (Shrugs) 

I must say that your keenness to have Bakura raped is unsettling.  Indulging in people's sadistic fantasies about people suffering is not what I set out to do with this fic, nor is it how I will finish it.  If it was fitting with what I wanted to do, I'd consider it, but I will not write it if it is what readers are baying for.  So there's your big spoiler for the fic:  There will be no further sexual assaults on any character.  

Too little humour in this fic?  There's a reason for that: It wouldn't fit in the context.  There are plenty of humour fics out there and a few in my archive, so go seek your laughs there.

lotus re-incarnate: Congrats for being the only person to pick up on the fact that Yami Malik was making his pursuit of Bakura a game.  Have a muffin.  'Family issues' all nicely resolved now, so I'm fully back in the world of fanfic at last! 

Lexy: This is going to finish at Chapter 14 which, given my recent rate of writing, should be up by 2005. ^^;;

Crystal: I'll tell you that I killed Bakura if I want to.  Hell, I'll be precise and colourful about it.  It's a puzzler with Yami and the STD, ain't it?  Again, two chapters left, so it's gonna get resolved soon.  If you want Yami-angst check out the majority of my favourite stories and authors.   

Anairb Black: Yeah, I'm a bitch for how I played you all with Bakura in the last chapter.  Love 'em and leave 'em or some crap.  This chapter is shorter than I wanted it to be, but the next one will be very long so I think 'update fast but not too fast because it'll finish then' should be balanced all right like that.

YumeTakato: Thanks for luck and pleasure that you randomly stumbled upon my humble corner in ff.net.  Didn't update soon, but meh.  Better than never.

NightMaiden02: I'm glad that you like how I'm writing Bakura.  I do love him so.  As for Yami being a 'younger spirit', I meant that Yami was younger than Bakura by a fair few years before they were both sealed away in the Items.  Bakura looks *a lot* older than him in the pictures from AE that I've seen, and I read somewhere that Bakura was in his early twenties when he got sealed away.

Kurama no Miko2003: Yeah, Bakura grew on my through fanfiction.  I just kinda ignored him, but now he's my snooglebumps ;p.  It is a bit surprising that he cares about something other than world domination, isn't it?  And sex for that matter…

Escuro de la Lus: (Blushes) Thanks for all the nice things you said.  Really perky-making.  Glad in a sadistic way that I instilled resentment with both the cliffhanger and the looming STD threat.  You seem pretty sure that Yami won't die after all this.  Heh.  That'd be kinda funny in a sick, ironic sort of way.  'And then he died' as the closing line would be far easier than some fluffy winding-up piece.  (Scuffs shoe) Alright, I'll take it seriously.

Krisskittie: Another new Bakura fan!  Ha!  I am manipulating you all!  Seriously though, flattered and joyful.  Nice of you to sneak online at work to review.  Wish I could do that but nooo, I have to serve popcorn and clean up after little brats….  Yami and Yugi will be talking in the near future but I have a few more cards up my sleeve first.  Don't I always?  

I should be published?  Aw.  (Tears up)  Am planning a book out actually.  It's only a plot and a bunch of preconception drawings and notes at the moment, but it should be somewhere near finished in the next couple of years.  There'll likely be some sort of hyperactive notice about said possible publication...  
   
Aw, poor Yami Malik.  So many enemies, so many threats.  And everyone who has been making threats is going to hate me at the beginning of this chapter, I'm sure.  Happy to have surprised you; I'd hate to become predictable.  Pegasus's little part in all this is sorted this chapter and as for the STD, well, that one will be revealed in due course.

Tuulikki: Well, this one wasn't fast so I hope it was at least good to make up for that.  Yeah, STDs aren't usually focussed upon much in fanfiction, neither is protection against them.  I was a little dubious about throwing up that idea but I figured that I've been upfront with everything else, so why not this as well?  I'm glad you've enjoyed this all so far, and I hope I end all this on a high note.

Miss Sera: Yeah, I'm a bitch with my cliffies, and Bakura torture is abound, in some form at least.  Weird in a good way that calling you my toughest critic was taken as a positive thing, and I'll stand by my statement.  You've always been brutally honest and although it's been painful at times, I appreciate that.  Upfront request for a lack of STDs too.  Well, I can't give anything away but I will say that I'm not taking on suggestions/pleas now.  I've had all of this planned for months and diddly is changing, so you'll just have to wait and see how it all winds up.

Liin Sivi: Thanks for the nice words, and I'm pleased that you enjoyed the Yami/Bakura interactions.  Resolution of the cliffhanger from last time?  Yup, another person who is going to hate me.  Oh well.  It'll be *a* review at least…  

Finally!  Another person who agrees that yaoi would be a bad idea!  It's too late for that now, anyway, so no more pestering now.  

AmunRa: Yeah, it's a bit surreal that this is finally ending.  It's been, what?  Over a year now?  It'll be sad to see it go, but then again I can get some other plot bunnies out in the open which is always a good thing.  Yup, Bakura is certainly deserving of all the sympathy he can get right now.  He's a resilient little sod though, so even Yami Malik is going to be hard pressed to finally do him in for good.  Ah, the mystery of Pegasus's desire to meet Yami.  I hope it's satisfying when you get to it.

nimoe18: No yaoi.  None.  Zip.  Naughta.  Favourite's list.  Go.  Look.  Thanks for reviewing though. ^^;

Ayod Botla the Dorky Goth: Ah, dear beta, you are not the only one who shall miss this beast.  It'll be good to see it laid to rest, but still, I've grown rather fond of it.  And no mocking the meditation exercises or you don't get your cookies.  (Looks stern)  It has been a long time since we concocted Pegasus's role in all this, hasn't it?  Credit is due to you for that idea, I believe.  Thanks for betaing this one for me, ducks.  Your scribblings are very much appreciated, as always.

Amiasha Ruri: My cliffhanger has propelled me to a level of Bitchdom that I was not aware existed, apparently.  (Looks amused)  Looking forward to the next chapter of Eien's sequel which, admittedly, I still can't remember the name to.  Thanks for all the nice comments about the different bits of the chapter, and I shall let you mock the meditation exercise a little bit.  There was perhaps a teensy bit of sardonic humour in that section.  Teensy.

Amm and her Yamis: More ideas for pics?  Cool.  I' certainly like to see them when you get them done.

Nephrite Eyes: Sorry for the tormenting!  Nearly finished though, remember?  You can't blast me until it's all finished!  Very cool that you think Chapter 11 was one of your favourites.  Mine too actually, but only because of Bakura's larger role in it.  Sorry for taking such a long time to update, but the next one should be up quicker, unless I just jinxed myself.  And thank you for the compliment about effectively sucking readers in…  Y'know?  I'm not going to touch that one…

Impish Pixie: Cheers for reviewing, and I mock your torture at the cliffy.  Here I go:  (Mocks)

Bastet Starwind: Yup, the Thief King is wounded.  How severely?  You do not know.  Is he going to wriggle out of this alive?  I will not say.  Am I taking a sick pleasure in all of this?  Anyone who doesn't think so doesn't know me well at all.

Blue September: I am cruel because I find pleasure in it.  Next?

I'm pleased that you were both surprised and happy with such a rapid and long update.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of this chapter.  Oh well.  More Sugoroku in this chapter, which should go across well since everyone seems to like him so much.  (Laughs) The prospect of an STD makes you sniffly?  I consider my work here done.  Seriously, resolutions and all that crap are coming very soon so I shan't be hinting at the answers to that one.

So, you're threatening me into keeping Bakura fairly safe, yet pining for his death?  You are so much like myself that it's a little frightening.  But hey!  I can't disappoint you now, can I?  Wonderful!

AG the master: There are worst cliffhangers than that one, I assure you.  Another vote for Bakura to continue to cling to life, and I'm sure he appreciates it. ;p

DJ Silence Yuy: Hope your curiosity over Pegasus hasn't ebbed since I last posted.  It'll ruin the effect if so.  Yeah, Yami and Bakura can be really sweet with each other.  Unless supplied with bondage.  Then it's just good.  Ha!  Your love for Bakura has led to you feeling panicked and fearful for him!   I shall ease the suffering soon, but not just yet.  No, not yet…

Domination: Chapter 12

"But he's okay?  I mean, if he's hurt as bad as he says he is, then surely he needs help?"

Yami attempted to soften his expression to reassure the white-haired teen, but he had difficulty given that he was currently feeling as anxious as Ryou.  

"Bakura regained some of his strength and healed the majority of his injuries whilst with me in the Shadow Realm.  I want to help him, but I still don't know exactly where he is.  He said he's trying to get into the forests in the south, away from the mountains, but he could still be anywhere.  I'm afraid there's not a lot we can do for him at the moment."

Ryou nodded silently at that and cast his eyes to the pavement again as they continued walking.  Yugi, walking close on the other side of his Dark, immediately put a supportive hand on his elbow, the spirit smiling thinly at the action and glancing at his Hikari before once again becoming lost in his own thoughts.

It was approaching noon and Yami had finally decided to meet Pegasus and find out what exactly the older man had to say to him.  He didn't particularly want anyone there to hear as well, but at Sugoroku's insistence, he had settled for seeing the man with the eldest Motou.  

Yami didn't know how the situation was going to turn out and didn't want to endanger his friends, but if it was safe and merely difficult he was certain that he was going to need some guidance and support afterwards.  He needed an adult with him more than anything.  He had been dubious about Sugoroku accompanying him considering what had happened the last time with Pegasus, but his adopted Grandfather had significantly helped him manage this morning and he didn't want to give up on that kind of support just yet.

Sugoroku had been more than happy to accompany him despite his feelings towards Pegasus.  He had good reason to hold a lot of animosity towards the man, but now was not the time for that.  It would be selfish to satisfy his own feelings at the expense of Yami's, and it was his adopted grandson whom needed support now.  He understood Yami's decision to ask him to meet Pegasus with him over his friends, and now walked a short way behind them as they talked.  Yami was a guardian and to bring his friends, his natural charges into a situation that would perhaps turn out to be dangerous, was not an idea that he would naturally warm to.  

There was also the nature of all of this; disturbingly graphic as the doctor's appointment illustrated.  As the only adult who had been permitted into the small circle, Sugoroku was the most experienced and mature and thus better equipped to tackle whatever could arise.  But then, he would have helped however he could even if it had not been asked of him.  He had to admit that he was secretly pleased that his helping could be active now, not silently waiting as he had done before.

Yami had been able to get an early appointment with a doctor for a blood test the day before, and had gone to it with Yugi and Sugoroku.  Ryou and Joey, not entirely happy with staying at the Game shop during the appointment, opted to stay in the waiting room whilst Yami was inside.  Despite being very uncomfortable, Yami managed having a sample of blood taken and answering the physician's questions quite well, Yugi staying with him the entire time and mentally soothing his Dark when he began to feel uncertain.  It wasn't really the test that worried Yami, but the results that he would receive in a few days.  

Still, it was over now and thus out of his hands.  As Joey had said to him, whatever would be would be and there was nothing he could do to change that.  Yugi assured him that everything would be fine no matter what and they'd take on anything together if there were a problem.  Although comforting, these words of encouragement just forced Yami's mind to dwell on the issue, something he was opposed to at the moment.  He had more pressing concerns to fret over, namely Pegasus.

The café where the duellist had agreed to meet them was around the corner now, and Yami was acutely aware of that short distance.  He tightened his jaw and didn't break his pace though, only stopping when he finally reached the corner.

"We'll be close-by if you need us," Joey assured, clapping a hand on Yami's shoulder as he motioned with his head to a shop across the road, Yami acknowledging the action with numb detachment.  Yugi nodded and sent a wave of support through the link before going with Joey and Ryou.  Yami watched them cross, feeling distinctively abandoned for some reason, until he had to suppress a flinch when Sugoroku placed a gentle hand on his arm.

"Come on, better sooner than later," he murmured although he gave no sign that they should move.  There was no force through his hand and his eyes were solely on the side of Yami's face as the spirit watched his friends.

Nodding, Yami resolved himself and stepped out of the shadow of the building.  Walking directly into the sunlight, he noted with some relief that the café was small and quiet with only a few chairs and tables set outside and barely a handful of customers scattered about.  He spotted Pegasus immediately thanks to his distinctive red suite, the older man briefly raising a small glass of wine to him as they approached. 

Sugoroku remained a step behind Yami the entire time, nodding his head to Pegasus when they finally stopped at the table and letting Yami dictate what they should do.  As it was, the spirit had remained standing and had crossed his arms as he meet Pegasus's gaze.  Absently, he closed off his bond with Yugi as a precaution against anything that may happen. 

Pegasus shifted almost imperceptibly, an uncharacteristic action for the man.  The movement displaced some of the hair from his face for a few moments though, allowing Yami to see that he now wore an eye patch over the socket the Millennium Eye had once resided in.  Red and with a white lining and strap, it fit with his outfit perfectly and Yami allowed himself a mental smile.  

He knew that Bakura had stripped Pegasus of his power and had assumed that the thief had taken the Eye as well, but looking now it seemed that Pegasus had recovered well from the incident.  Judging by the design of the patch, he had also found some humour in it, laced with bitterness as it may be. 

"Would you care to sit down?" he finally said, looking from one Motou to the other and motioning to the two chairs opposite him.  He had obviously expected Yami to bring someone with him.

Yami didn't break eye contact as he took a place on the metal seat, Sugoroku sitting a few inches to his right.  He was watching carefully for any sign of contempt or mocking or even aggression.  He saw none though, merely a sympathetic and slightly unnerved man.  As for the sympathy, Yami would have much preferred the aggression.  Pity was an emotion he shunned vehemently. 

There was silence for a few moments and deciding that this was not going to be the best way to proceed, Sugoroku took it upon himself to break it.  Pegasus seemed as uncertain as Yami was and neither was exactly helping the other along.

"Nice patch."  

Pegasus's gaze snapped to him with wry amusement at the blunt comment, and he tipped his head to expose it partially as he smiled.  "I'm thinking of getting a parrot to match it."

Yami watched the exchange curiously.  Surely with all the history between the three of them, this was highly unsuitable?  It broke the tension though, and the spirit saw no reason now why he shouldn't just dive right in.  Pegasus didn't seem to have anything malicious in mind, especially considering his last comment, and it wasn't as if he had anything left to lose.  Indeed, all he could do now was gain.  

"Why did you want to speak with me?"

Attention back on him, Yami resisted the powerful urge to fidget and held his stare.  He'd faced this man in far more frightening situations; he could ask him questions now.  Granted, he hadn't been as emotionally shattered then, but still, he wasn't as weak as his subconscious was insisting.

The glass gently touching down on the metal table was painfully loud, Pegasus watching the liquid inside settle as he seemingly composed himself to begin.  

"First, I wanted to say that I'm truly sorry for all that has happened to you."

Yami bristled at the pitying comment, although it didn't sting as much as it perhaps should have.  He respected this man despite everything that had happened; he had been a worthy adversary and from what his friends had told him, had fought viciously for what was essentially a good cause.  

"I found out in, as I'm sure, the same way that others have.  I spoke to Kaiba about it but he had already handled the matter," Pegasus continued smoothly although his usually placid expression was fractured, belaying emotions that his voice did not so eloquently relay.

Yami nodded in acknowledgement.  Pegasus must have called Kaiba within the last few days, as it was only fairly recently that the clip had been destroyed.  But then, Kaiba could have known it was there for some time and it could have taken weeks to dismantle the program.  Or perhaps he had just left it until he had a convenient moment to cease its display to the world.

He shook himself mentally, cutting off the potentially disastrous train of thought.  Kaiba wouldn't do such a thing and Yami had come to trust him.  He was just allowing himself to become immersed in thoughts and feelings that he did not want nor was capable of stomaching at the moment.  His focus should be here and now.  

Pegasus had not interrupted his mental digress, noting that Yami was absorbing everything slowly and sceptically.  Which he had every right to.  He didn't want to force or rush anything now, not when the stakes were high and the situation delicate.  

Sugoroku watched Yami tactfully, noting Pegasus's quiet observation of the young man and his subsequent silence.  It pleased him that he would not need to curb the usually talkative man's speech, force him to let Yami progress at his own time.  Unconsciously, he placed a hand softly on Yami's shoulder, pleased when he did not flinch.

When cerise eyes met his again, Pegasus deemed it safe to continue.  "I wanted to tell you that I, and indeed your friends and family, are not alone in our sympathies over these, 'events'."

Frowning, Yami and Sugoroku exchanged a confused look before waiting for Pegasus to continue.  He seemed a little more relaxed now that the initial icebreaker had passed; keen even to pass on this piece of information.

"You became very famous during my Duellist Kingdom tournament, or more precisely your alter-ego Yugi did," he began, gesturing vaguely as he spoke.  "However it's not my policy to disclose contact details, so any fan-mail that people sent automatically came to me.  I've stored most of it, giving it away whenever a duellist asked for it, but I'm still in possession of everything that was sent for you.  And being the Game King and the overall winner, you received a lot."

Yami was not entirely surprised by any of this.  Duellist Kingdom had been widely publicised as it was such a massive venture; indeed the first of its kind until Battle City.  

"Holding Battle City, Kaiba no doubt found the same sort of thing, but he is nowhere near as charitable or sentimental as I and it has doubtlessly all been destroyed now," Pegasus added, smiling thinly to himself.  Indeed, that was the case.  He had asked when they had spoken, and he had picked up on a tiny thread of regret when the CEO had told him.

Yami felt the need to speak now, the uncomfortable niggle that had started when Pegasus had started this topic overriding his will to let the man finish.  "As much as I would appreciate the gratification of reading such mail, I think it would be better that you passed it on to Yugi.  I am not the Duellist that I was, nor do I believe I will be in the near future."  His words were tainted with bitterness but he was generally accepting of this fact.  He had crumbled before his longest rival merely months ago, and that embarrassing night had done well to ram his condition as a Duellist as well as his mental state right home most effectively.  

A look of pain flickered over Pegasus's face for a bare instant, reflected anguish at Yami's words.  He raised a hand to stop any further, determined to prevent this conversation from following such a wretched tangent.

"The amount of mail decreased dramatically when both tournaments finished, but over the last few weeks it's picked up again."

Yami felt sick, and Sugoroku saw it in the sudden drop in his skin tone.  Pegasus paused almost out of respect for a sudden sense of unease before continuing carefully.  "I haven't opened any of it, nor would I.  I think you should have it.  It might, help," he finished helplessly, anxious to say anything that would condemn Yami's state as fact.  He wasn't sure how the fiery spirit would react to that.

"I agree," Sugoroku murmured suddenly, causing Yami to look to him in mild surprise.  The elder man gave him a sympathising look.  "Not everyone wishes harm.  It would do you good to remember that, and to know that not everyone believes that you are as worthless as you seem to have come to believe you are."

Now Yami did fidget, and strongly wished that Pegasus wasn't present to hear that. Sugoroku had very efficiently cut to the heart of the matter; when it came down to it, Yami simply felt that he just wasn't worth the trouble he was putting his friends through.  He didn't feel deserving of the risks Yugi was taking in trying to get as involved in all of this as possible, of the countless hours that Bakura had spent with him and the effort that everyone else was putting into maintaining his spirits.  He felt far better now than he had a short time ago, yes, but that feeling of unworthiness left over from the initial attack would be hard pressed to be removed, and at present it was still deeply seeded and troublesome.

Pegasus placed a hand at the stem of the half-empty glass, subtly bringing their attention back to him.  "I did not wish to intrude or else I would have told you sooner, but there is a lot of it now and I believe it would do far more good than harm.  If you wish, I can have it delivered by the morning."

Yami contemplated Sugoroku's earlier words as he stared at Pegasus's open and compassionate face, deciding whether or not to accept this offer.  He was fearful of what the letters might contain, but if that many people had truly witnessed the act of his… defilement, and then taken the time to write to him through Pegasus with the hopes of him eventually reading it, he had to know what they thought of him.  It wasn't out of pride or anything remotely like it, but a dangerous sense of curiosity instead, a profound desire to know if the situation was honestly as bad as he thought it was.

Finally, he nodded firmly and forced a small, grateful smile.  It was uncomfortable to do so, but he held it through his words, which were genuine.  "Thank you.  I would appreciate that."

Pegasus's mouth broke into a grin, grateful and warmed.  "Excellent.  I'll have them sent out post-haste.  I do not wish to linger upon your time any further, but if you need anything that I may be able to help you with, don't hesitate in asking."

Noting that the other man had not finished his wine and how restless Yami was starting to become, Sugoroku uttered a soft thanks and extended his arm to grasp Pegasus's hand as he stood.  He seemed surprised as well as pleased at the action, shaking the proffered hand firmly before releasing it and returning his hand to his lap.  Yami took the moment to rise from his own seat, casting his gaze about himself to see if Yugi was anywhere about.

He felt very agitated and he couldn't begin to fathom why. He was immensely relieved at how the conversation with Pegasus had gone but now he had a terrible sense of foreboding knotting coldly in his stomach.  The scar between his neck and shoulder had begun to prickle as well, although if he had imagined that before it started acting up, he could not tell.

A suitable amount of thanks and farewells now exchanged, Sugoroku placed a hand on Yami's arm, breaking him out of his sudden spell of alarmed distraction.  Questioning him through his expression whilst still in earshot of Pegasus, Yami responded by nodding curtly at the seated man and then crossing the street.  Sugoroku knew that Yugi, Joey and Ryou had gone into the shop, which Yami was determinedly heading towards, but from the other's stance it seemed that Yami was almost fearful that they wouldn't be there now.

As it was Yami had dropped the mental shields he had held through the conversation in the hope that that had been the cause of this feeling in his gut.  When he was met with nothing but an empty silence, his fear of foreboding had increased, quickening his pace even more as crossed the road.

Very soon they'd discovered that his fears had been well placed.  Attempting to calm Yami, Sugoroku had reasoned that they may have returned to the shop for something, perhaps thinking that their meeting with Pegasus would take longer and so they wouldn't be missed.  Apparently Yami wasn't confident in that reckoning, his pace increasing all the way back to the shop until he was running, leaving the eldest Motou far behind.

He ceased sprinting abruptly outside the shop with pain filled gasps for air, a dozen muscles cramping from the abuse he had suddenly put them through and the flecks of black in his vision reminding him that he was not as fit as he used to be.  

The shop itself looked fine; the closed sign was still in place and all was quiet.  Still feeling greatly disturbed, Yami circled the shop to approach the house from the back.  He stopped before he even reached the gate into the small garden and was taken aback by the scene before him.

Joey sat lent against a fencepost holding a hand to his bloodied nose, Anzu hovering over him obviously distressed.  Yugi and Ryou were nowhere to be seen, and the door leading into the kitchen had been seemingly obliterated, large shards of wood littering the grass outside.  Yami broke back into a run for the final few meters, dropping to his knees next to Joey as his throat constricted from something else other than fatigue.

"What happened?" he demanded, taking in Joey's dishevelled and bloodied state before glancing about once again for any sign of Yugi.

The blond opened his mouth to speak beneath his reddened palm, his face contorting in pain as he decided better of it.  Anzu spoke for him, her voice shaky as she wrung her hands nervously in front of her, speaking to both Sugoroku and Yami now.  The eldest Motou was now standing close to them in the garden on the other side of the fence, listening as he scrutinized the area fearfully after checking that Joey was generally intact.

"Tristen and I-we came to apologize for the other day and ran into Yugi, Ryou and Joey.  Ryou said his Ring was going haywire and that whatever was doing it was in the house."  She faltered and Yami had to restrain himself from shaking her out of frustration.  

"Yami Malik…  He, he took Yugi. We tried to stop him but he was too strong.  Tristen ran after him but we don't know where they are," she finished, pointing in the direction they had run off in.

Yami swallowed heavily, all pain in his muscles forgotten.  Rising to his feet, he approached the house with dread as he spotted a shock of white against the scorched walls.  Ryou was standing in the shattered doorway, his back tight and a barely perceptible tremor running throughout his frame.  With Sugoroku shadowing him, Yami stopped beside the Hikari and felt his heart sink and pulse rise at what he saw.

Blood.  Lots of it.  It was sprayed quite deliberately up the walls and scattered in small puddles all about the tiled floor.  His senses naturally did what his mind refused to, extending to perceive that which mortals could not.  His shock was palpable when he discovered that it was more than one person's blood here.

Bakura's signature in the drying fluid was far more powerful, more of his blood decorating the room than Yugi's, whose signs were far weaker.  Bakura's blood felt older as well, not freshly spilt but collected and deliberately laid.  Yugi was attacked here, Yami Malik's threat collected and scattered here.

All of these assessments took place in Yami's mind within two seconds and when the shock had dissipated enough through the third, he was gone, running in the general direction that Anzu had given him and seeking out both essences as he moved.  It had gone too far this time.  Yami Malik had taken this a step further than it had to go, and to his core Yami knew that he would pay today.

Today, one way or another, this would all end.

****

(Huge sigh of relief) Well, I'm glad that one's done!  Hopefully that was worth the wait, and I shant make any estimates about the update-time for the next chapter as it's the most complicated one out of the series, I reckon.  I promise vengeance though, so there's something to look forward to.

Reviews?  I know it's been a while but there's no need to blank me. ^^;;


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you to everyone that's reading now. You've clearly been far more patient than I would have been. Also, thank you to everyone who reviewed Chapter 12, and I do hope you'll offer your thoughts at the end of this chapter.

Pachelbel beted this one for me instead of Ayod, being a bit of an expert on Malik and Yami Malik- an expertise that I simply lack. I also didn't want to harass Ayod out of the blue for so long. Who knows about the last chapter though.

Domination: Chapter 13

Yami ran. Every muscle in his body screamed its torment but his core being was aflame, driving him forward. He ran faster than he should have been able to with a diminished body and shrunken muscles. It was beautiful what adrenalin could do, and Yami was utilising every extra bit of energy he could get from it.

Their auras seared his senses, a clear path smeared through the air as deliberately as the blood had been on the walls. It couldn't be missed, and it was because of this that some small part of Yami's mind sang that he was running full pelt into a trap. But he didn't care about that now, driven by instinct and rage as he was. Despair nipped in the recesses of his mind, a cold ache that everything around him once again had taken a turn for the worse, but the anger was all-prevailing. And Yami was unspeakably grateful for it. The despair would have brought him to his knees with a scream that he had nothing to live for when all he brought to everyone around him was this, but the anger pummelled his attention to****his foe's sheer audaciousness and fuelled his sinewy body onwards.

Joey and the others were following somewhere behind, but Yami had gotten a substantial head start and it was clearly he who would arrive first at whatever was there to meet him at the end of this trail. He ran for perhaps ten minutes, further into Domino City until he rounded a corner where the auras felt strongest, the energies hanging in the air as if they had been paraded back and forth just to obtain that pungency.

Instantly in the cold, massive shadow, Yami stopped and looked about himself, desperately seeking any sign of either Yugi or Bakura. Taking the opportunity to gather his bearings, he braced his hands upon his knees and panted sharply as his body insisted that it needed to breathe as much as it insisted that it could bleed. His mind returned to a more even keel after a minute or so although his mood remained unchanged, and he focussed himself enough to filter through the confusion of energy to recollect the trail. The auras seemed to lead him to the construction site just behind Kaiba's building, and after he had crept through the surrounding fence and rounded the immense structure, he could faintly make out a figure moving between the skeletal structure of the future building and the piles of stone.

Trembling minutely as the adrenaline leaked away, Yami found the mindless anger beginning to wane and a logic-based fear crept up his back to fill the space. He'd barely come through his last encounter with Yami Malik, and that was only because Bakura had intervened whilst the psychotic entity was off-guard. He would not have such a stroke of luck today, and he could only hope that Bakura was still alive. And Yugi... He cut off the thought before it could break him. Weakness now would simply not do, not when so much was at stake.

Gathering his energy and courage as he walked through the shadow, Yami murmured a silent prayer that this would turn out for the better. Moving into the fragmented shadows at the edge of the site he stopped beside a thick girder. He was close enough now to see the thief and his Hikari, and his chest tightened spasmodically.

Both were bound in the same way but Yugi was kneeling whilst Bakura lay prone on his side. Strips of electrical tape covered their mouths and smaller patches had been laid over each eye, making it impossible to judge if Bakura was conscious. A roughly cut pipe, a yard or so in length, was wrenching their arms up and behind their backs in a torturous way. One end of the pipe sat between their shoulder blades, their wrists bound firmly with tape and wire to the ends. Yami noted with a sickened feeling that Bakura's right arm was badly twisted in the binding, the bone clearly broken above his elbow. They sat in an area that was clearer of debris, foreboding temptation in their simple exposure.

Yet behind them both stood Yami Malik, hair flared and gently pulled by the wind with his cape fluttering about his boots. He held the Rod by his thigh giving his stance a relaxed appearance, but his eyes, alit with madness and hunger, belayed other sentiments. Head tipping to the side in a fluid action, Yami Malik acknowledged the new presence.

It was unnaturally quiet and so Yami's voice rang out clearly over the handful of meters that separated them. There was fury in his tone that did not come from the strength he was forcing into it, anxiety still laying a sinister and unhelpful quaver. The sight of two of the most important people in Yami's life cruelly twisted and bound in the dirt had reignited the fire that had brought him here with such haste. It sat at a simmer though, with only the whispered promise of an eventual explosion given the fuel to do so.

"Release them. They have nothing to do with this."

For his part, Yami Malik looked utterly bemused, laughing and raising the Rod as a pointer at the Game King. "But they make you this scared, and that's amusing. It also adds something of a dramatic air to all of this, and that's what the people want after all: drama."****

****

A wicked sense of foreboding settling heavily in his gut, Yami followed the sweeping motion of the Rod up to the building opposite The sunlight picked out a lens in one of the higher windows, a camera and robed figure behind it in the shadows. Yami felt his jaw drop a little in shock. His stomach and throat tightened at the perverted attack, but his distress concealed the feelings and the motion of his fists tightening.

Yami Malik continued seemingly oblivious, bringing the Item back to himself now that he was done illustrating. "You must have known that I wouldn't have let this slide into the shadows, Pharaoh, not without your adoring public having a peak." He almost spat the words. "They saw part one and it wouldn't be right to deny them the resolution."

Yami clenched his jaw and his eyelids shut, taking a steadying breath. Opening his bond with Yugi, he was instantly awash with fright and a sense of bone-deep weakness. /Aibou, are you alright/ If he knew… he had to find something to hope for, something to cling to in this. Something for what little sanity he had left at least.

/Yami! I was getting scared that you wouldn't find us, or that he'd done something to you…/

Opening his eyes and fixing them on Yugi, Yami pressed on with mounting urgency. He knew that Yami Malik would not allow them this indulgence of communication for long. /Please, are you hurt badly? There was blood/

/I'm okay; it doesn't hurt too much. I don't know about Bakura. Please, be careful Yami, I don't want to lose you/

The words were enough for him, and his jaw tightened with his resolve. /You won't. Not to him. This ends now, I promise my Hikari. I'll take us home soon/

Closing the bond before it threatened to undo him, Yami straightened his posture and tried to quell the aura of fear that he was obviously radiating. The Puzzle thrummed with warmth, the Item seemingly reminding him of that which he could draw upon. Eyes narrowing, he finally shifted his gaze back to Yami Malik, only to have them flash open again when he saw that he was gone.

He was half an irrational step towards both downed figures before logic caught up with the fact that Yami Malik would not have left them alone if they were not in further jeopardy. But then, the spirit had only wanted to draw Yami out. Before he could think on this conflict further, the rattle of metal behind and above him tore away his attention.

****

Yami Malik had climbed the structure and now darted about the semi-constructed first floor, plastics and packaging obscuring his body. Swallowing the bait seemed to be the best option in Yami's mind and he immediately gave chase.

,

It had taken Tristen, Anzu and Joey several minutes to find the building site, having had to tear almost randomly through the city in their pursuit as Yami had run out of sight so quickly. Fortunately they had been only half a block away on the other side of when the first explosion went off. To call it an explosion would have been unfair as there was no fire or explosives, but there was a lot of heat and magic, and parts of the building site where now largely deconstructed.

Running with renewed energy at the second blast of peculiar rushes of wind and clattering scaffolding, they found themselves only fifty yards from where their friends lay captive and double that from where the two combatants were chasing each other up the skeletal building. Crouching down behind a large wooden tray of bricks, Joey was the first to speak between gasps of exertion.

"Ah don't reckon it'll be too smart to just run out an' grab 'em." At Anzu's nod of agreement, he glanced about himself for something that might inspire a solution whilst Tristen continued to watch Yami Malik and Yami. "It would be really helpful if we knew what sort of trap it was."

"I don't think there is a trap, Joey," Tristen announced, not taking his eyes off the building as he spoke. "I mean, look at it: out in the open, on bare dirt with not another soul anywhere near them. The only way anyone could really get at them would be to fire something, and as Yami Malik was never really one for guns it would have to be a spell, and he's too busy fighting with Yami to perform one."

Anzu duly surveyed the area, her hand wringing itself worriedly and her chest aching with the urge to simply run out, trap or no trap, and get her friends to safety. "But what if there's a spell already laid out? I wouldn't put it past him, and there's no way to tell what it is, or how to get rid of it." ****

"Oh, I beg to differ," Joey drawled back, the smirk in the words as heavy as the one on his face. "Looks like Ryou decided to join the party, and he seems to be thinking the same thing as us." ****

Anzu and Tristen knelt up and followed Joey's gaze, spotting Ryou just coming through a gap in the ramshackle wooden fence surrounding the site. He held the Ring up in one hand and rested the other on the fence, obviously hesitant. Another dry explosion from the building gave him the opportunity he needed to run towards Yugi and Bakura, his eyes half focussed on the Ring as he moved.

It flashed brilliantly, warningly, a few tantalizing yards from the pair and he stopped violently, even back-pedalling a few steps before glancing back to the building to see if he'd been noticed. ****Feeling that it was safe enough to continued, Ryou dropped to his knees and held the Ring tightly in both hands, tipping its' side into the ground.

Anzu, Tristen and Joey watched all this with growing anticipation, but the bitter throb of dread continued to grow with every new sound of destruction coming from the building. "What's he doing?" Tristen asked in a low voice, Anzu not removing her gaze either as she voiced her own question: "How does he know how to do it?"

Realisation and memory were both delightful feelings at this point, and Joey let himself smile properly in impending relief. "Ryou knows how to find spells and traps now: he an' Yugi found one that Bakura laid down the other day. Hopefully that one out there isn't too complicated and Bakura taught him enough to break it."

As if on cue, the Ring flared again, and this time a complicated series of hidden rings and symbols in the earth around Yugi and Bakura flared with it. Ryou had stood and dropped the Ring back down to his chest by the time the light had faded away and now all four ran towards the injured 'teens'. Stumbling in surprise when he saw the other three running towards him, Ryou nevertheless began to strip down the bindings on Bakura's wrists immediately.

A muffled grunt of pain made him gasp in relief, and he left the bindings to pull off the tape covering his yami's mouth. Immediately the air was filled with a cacophony of profanities; Egyptian, Japanese and something else, and demands to have his hands freed.

Yugi was far quieter as Joey removed his own gag as Anzu and Tristen worked on freeing his wrenched arms, wincing as quietly as possible as he was pulled about. The gash across his eyebrow from where Yami Malik had taken some of his blood was stitched across and he didn't want to tear the wound open when he removed the tape. Vocalising this to Joey when his hands were free, he peeled the tape from off his own eyelids with a hiss, feeling his skin and lashes being pulled before snapping back sorely. To his relief there was no blood. Blinking in the first light he'd been exposed to in some time, he immediately looked about himself for Yami, his hands clenching in the sandy dirt when he saw no sign.

"They're up on the scaffolding, Yugi," Tristen stated with a nod in the direction of the building. A few seconds later there was a loud clatter and one of the heavy pieces of piping dropped down, ricocheted off of the partially constructed wall and landed with a noisy bounce on the ground. The sound of manically laughter followed before it stopped abruptly and two shadows could be glimpsed clambering up into the next floor.****

"Fantastic," Bakura grunted from where he was still led on his side behind them. Despite his hands now being untied he seemed to have no desire to move as Ryou carefully picked the tape squares from over his eyes away. "Maybe Yami Malik'll fall and land on his head. Damnit Ryou, stop pissing around and just pull it off."

Wincing sympathetically, Ryou did as instructed and tore off both pieces in one movement. Bakura clamped his eyes shut and buried his head into the ground, his mouth pulled into a grimace. Finally he began to take squinting looks around but shut his eyes again with a curse as Ryou gingerly lifted his broken arm from behind him.

"Damnit, just leave me alone and sort out the Pharaoh. If you can help him knock out the little bastard I might be of some use in this fight."

Now becoming as unnerved as Ryou was at Bakura's lack of movement, particularly now when the spirit seemed extremely angry, Yugi took his eyes off of the building to look at him. "What do you mean, Bakura?"

Glaring and obviously very irked at having to explain something that seemed very obvious, to him at least, Bakura made a failed attempt to roll onto his back. "What I mean is that he's put some magical bug in that's eating all my energy before I can use it to move one damn finger. If he isn't actively sustaining it though it'll wear off and I can go and tear his head off."

Sitting down behind Yugi now that it was clear that Bakura and thus the group wasn't going anywhere for the time being, Joey scrubbed a dirty hand through his hair and looked away towards the hole in the fence that Ryou had come in through. "Well I don' personally think that we could do anythin' about that. This right here is Yami's fight and I think he's the only one who's gonna win it." Eyes widening in shock as he watched a darkly robed figure –clearly a Ghoul- step through the hole Joey looked back to the group worriedly, well aware that where there was one there was going to be dozens. "Maybe we should have gone for cover when we had the chance."

Ryou knelt up slowly, his hands still on Bakura's shoulder and hand as he watched the Ghouls steadily appearing as if from nowhere in a dark circle about the construction site. "I don't know. I really don't want to move my yami when he's like this, and I don't know if Yami Malik has left any more traps down in places we might hide."

The Ghouls began to move in closer, tightening their circle and closing off any gaps that could even be conceived as a possible escape. The group watched this in silence, all minds racing to think of a way out of this, Yugi stealing a look at the building ahead of them and feeling his anxiety pitch when he noted the lack of sound from it. He jumped, startled, when a flash of light originating from one of the higher floors flared into existence, every Ghoul stopping immediately to look at it.

''''

Yami was almost grateful when the Ghouls had appeared. He knew that Yami Malik was arrogant enough to want this victory solely for himself with absolutely no interference from any of his minions, but that didn't stop him from wanting as many witnesses to these events as possible and using them as such. The Ghoul inside was clearly there to unsettle him for his enemy's amusement rather than to give any real advantage. Leaning against a girder and looking up through two layers of mesh flooring, Yami used these valuable moments to catch his breath and will away some of the more potent aches that seared through his body.

Although Yami Malik's mocking tirade at Yugi and the rest of the group appeared to have the potential to last a few minutes there was no way that Yami could climb up onto that floor without making a fair amount of noise. His body, worn down by months of malnutrition and a lack of exercise, simply could not take all of this running and clambering in pursuit of an enemy who was, at the moment, far stronger and faster than he. He pressed on though despite the pains from where Yami Malik had successfully hit him with something or when he decided to ignore his instincts and drop to the lower floor and straight onto unyielding metal, almost breaking his ankles and knees in the process.

Looking out through the fluttering sheets of dirty plastic he could see that Yugi was alright, however Bakura was still lying prone. He would be able to tell if the Ring spirit was dead though; he merely felt sickly at the moment, as if his energy were clogged and stagnating. Casting his eyes back to Yugi whom now was staring almost directly at him he felt a pang run through his chest.

He could not believe that he had allowed it to come to this, to having to wait for a body that he had degraded into this state to recover just so he could chase Yami Malik around until he had exhausted himself again. Yami was confident that there were things far worse than what he had already endured for him if Yami Malik were to win this, and he didn't even want to begin speculating on Yugi.

The Ghouls obediently moved away and back out of site, obeying their master's order to return to the warehouse and wait for him there. Knowing that his brief respite was over, Yami pushed himself heavily away from the girder and looked back up through the mesh, glaring at Yami Malik who was positively beaming with a psychotic delight back down at him. He vaguely heard shouts from the group, the words and voices garbled by the distance and the wind, but he didn't dare look to them now.

"Little Yugi is quite stupid, Pharaoh. I hope you realize that." Still looking down, Yami Malik lowered the Rod to his side and began to pace back and forth, reminding Yami in a very unsettling manner of a prowling tiger, never taking its eyes off its prey. "While he was my prisoner all he did was tell me about how you would stop me and that I would pay for my actions. That I should fear you." Squatting slowly and tapping the Rod on the grating directly above Yami's head, he grinned ever more broadly. "You haven't given me much cause to so far, have you Pharaoh?"

Yami forced himself to stand still and not allow his expression to give anything away. Yami Malik was striking some very sore points through the damage to his own confidence in himself and the fact that he wasn't making any progress in this fight nor giving any indication that he could. Yugi and Bakura were free and alive though, and their friends were with them so ultimately they would be alright, particularly now that Yami Malik had sent his Ghouls away. He knew that he had to stop Yami Malik now though or this would never end. He loathed the thought that they would have to go into hiding just to escape the insane spirit. So much was riding on the spirit being overcome now, but that pressure did nothing to help his body or dwindling energy reserves.

Looking up and away, Yami Malik rose to his feet and quickly strode to the very edge of the building. Curious and feeling a dark sense of foreboding Yami followed him from beneath, looking down and feeling his jaw drop in horror as he saw Yugi and Joey jogging towards them.

"And it seems that little Yugi is showing that same stupidity again," Yami Malik announced through his teeth, seemingly less pleased now that they were once again being interrupted. Looking about, he quickly assessed his surrounds before moving towards and taking hold of a rope that hung a little way out from the building.

Yami watched as the spirit jumped away from the building holding the rope, dropping in a controlled descent as the load on the other end of the pulley came up with a squeak and a rattle. When he reached the bottom, he released the rope and the large plastic bag fell back down to the ground and landed with a crash and an enormous spray of dust.

Joey had arrived at the building first and had been starting to climb its structure to join Yami, and thus was nowhere near close enough to help when Yami Malik dashed the few feet between where he had landed and Yugi stood. The Rod pulled open and the sheath for the long thin blade stowed in the back of his trousers as he covered that distance, Yami Malik quickly had Yugi against his chest and was backing him away from the building. ****

"Do you see, Pharaoh, the weakness that your friends give you?" Yami Malik shouted up the building, the blade at Yugi's throat removed for just long enough for him to land a hard kick in the back of his leg and send him with a pained shout to the ground. Holding the blade now at the base of Yugi's neck, he gave Joey a warning stare and checked that everyone who had remained on the ground in the middle of the site were still there. Satisfied, he returned his gaze to Yami whose eyes were wide and whose skin was pale.

"You're very lucky that I only took your Hikari's blood by a blade rather than handing him over to more unsavoury men and retrieving it through them." ****

****

Yami did not notice the Puzzle warming and beginning to glow softly, aware of only the bitterness in his mouth and his very blood running cold and that sickly image tried to force itself into his mind. He knew that Yami Malik was only working to unsettle him, to push him further off balance so that this victory would be even easier for him than it already looked to be.

Looking down at Yugi now, tipping his head in a considerate manner, Yami Malik removed the sheath from the small of his back and replaced it over the blade of the Rod. After turning the Item over just as slowly, he suddenly buried his free hand into Yugi's hair and jerked his head back, one of the sharp wings of the Rod against the side of Yugi's throat. Looking down into Yugi's eyes with his own wide and fixated ones, he spoke softly, far quieter than what Joey and Yami could hear. "But you are interfering more than you should, so I'll get rid of you, this weakness, so that I may take the Pharaoh down as I should, and your blood will only help me to kill him."

****

Yami could only stare in horror at the sight that was unfolding almost directly below him. He could not drop that distance without at least breaking both his legs and the pulley-system that Yami Malik had used was too far away for him to use before this blow could be delivered. Everyone else was too far away to help and Joey was directly ahead of Yugi, clearly in Yami Malik's sights, and thus could do nothing to save his friend.

He wanted to scream, to shout that if Yami Malik would let go of his Hikari that he would come down and bare his own throat willingly, give anything that was asked of him. His throat was closed and his jaw wouldn't move. The Rod came up to the side and Joey shouted something, but Yami couldn't make out what.

And it was at this moment that the Puzzle tried to pull his very bones into it.

''''

There were literally thousands of metaphysical rooms inside the Puzzle, and only a relative handful had been explored by Yami. As well as pitfalls and locked doors, there were rooms that pulsated with an energy so negative and foreboding that Yami intentionally did not explore them, fearing that they would house the most fearsome and lethal traps. It was the entrances to these rooms that burst open creating a sort of vacuum that pulled every scrap of magic in the surrounding area into their collective gaping maws.

''''

Yami felt his muscles fall slack and he dropped to his knees, his body following immediately afterwards in an awkward slump to his side atop a pile of discarded bolts and a single pipe, still wrapped in plastic. Inches from the edge of the floor, his vision had narrowed to almost a pinprick of sight and his head was engulfed in pain, his chest shuddering at the intensity of the cacophony of sensations tearing through him. It was a feeling of everything passing through and out of him, draining away right into the Puzzle.

The Item flashed and vibrated with an unprecedented vigour, literally bouncing off the metal grate against the Game King's chest and rattling at the chain that connected it to him. What little vision Yami still retained was useless as the Item continued its frenzied energy feed, the light it was giving off utterly blinding him leaving his senses confided to the banging of metal on metal and the rush of power through his system.

However it was not this display of light and movement that drew Yami Malik away from his killing blow. The spirit had felt the sudden ominous pull too, and was deeply interested in finding a solution as to how to stop it immediately. Tearing his eyes away from the new focus of his concerns, he cracked the side of the blunt head of the Rod sharply across Yugi's cheekbone and turned sharply away from Joey, using the blonde's ensuing concerned panic over his friend to begin sprinting around the building to where the stairs were. After a cursory check to make sure that Yugi was alright, Joey rose quickly to his feet to follow but saw that Yami Malik had already stopped in his tracks, raising the Rod in an apparently defensive gesture.

The blond heard a loud exclamation of 'holy shit' from Bakura and instinctually raised his eyes up the building to where Yami Malik was staring. It looked like Bakura in the depths of a crazed rage, but the way the figure's hair was whipping back was different to that very familiar image. His eyes were blank though, mere pinpricks of a pupil surrounded by white.

He didn't need to be able to feel the absolute absence of energy currents around him to know that something fairly spectacular was about to happen.

''''

Yami had lost all control. The vacuum that had so ferociously pulled energy into the Puzzle had suddenly and with no warning reversed and now every once-sealed room that had filled almost to bursting was vomiting all that energy back through him. With extra.

He couldn't remember ever having this much power at once before and he certainly didn't know how to control it now. It seared his fabricated blood and skipped in and out of his pores in delicate arcs, tugging through hair and centring somewhere around his sternum. The Puzzle smoked at his shirt from the heat and continued to vibrate erratically, although far less powerfully this time.

Shoulders aching with a growing force, Yami mindlessly lifted his arms and felt the pressure vanish, moving to his wrists and hands now to force his fingers open in a twisted version of a welcoming gesture, his palms twisted in and slightly skywards. A whiney thrum built in his ears making him utterly deaf. He could see but only barely; his vision narrowed and black spots obscured even that.

Yami Malik fell into his confused sights with ease though, his eyes seemingly gravitating to the figure. His lips drew back willingly and his jaw clenched, and although the energy continued to buffet him, he kept his focus on that spirit. The whine escalated and through the burning and the light and the noise and the feeling that his very body was going to tear itself apart, one focus remained clear and held his barely sane mind together.

And that focus was backing away looking scared.

''''

Yami Malik had enough pride not to wish to look like a coward, but he knew when he was at great risk and was willing to take a bruise to his ego if it meant that his skin would remain attached to his flesh. He had had no idea, no clue, that the Pharaoh had it in him to draw on magical energy like this, and even less of an idea that he would be able to channel it. But then, the greatest strength always did tend to appear during rage.

He kept the Rod raised to the still yet chaotically active figure, his other hand outstretched as well as he prepared himself to at least deflect some of this blow. A second passed and then he saw as much as felt the charge end.

It started as a distortion in the air between them, a rippling, but in a split second it filled with colours he could not identify and power he could not defend against. He could not restrain the scream as he felt his flesh fuse to the Rod, his body lifted and thrown back an alarming distance as it seared. Yami Malik did not feel himself land as he scraped together enough sense to withdraw violently from Malik's body mid-fall, tearing away into his equivalent of a Soul Room and leaving Malik in control.

Despite Yami Malik's desperate attempt to escape by burying himself inside his host, the pain continued. The burning seemed to have penetrated his very spirit, chewing away at him like a living thing that sought to corrode and kill. There was no escape from it as to turn his own power on himself would only serve to destroy him quicker. It was leaving him sickly conscious though, disintegrating his reserves first.

Yami Malik jerked at the deafening scream that suddenly consumed him as greatly as the lethal energy as if he had physical form. It was one of desperation and pain, and although he expected it to be it was not his. Then, to his utter shock, the searing began to recede, the rampage on his soul ceasing. The damage had been done and he knew that there was no hope for him. But he was still alive. As the violent power seeped completely from him and the physical shell he had hidden within, he knew that he was alive in some form. And for all of Hell he didn't know why.

''''

_Oh Ra_ was the only significant thought that Yami could currently muster. Somewhere between reigning in the powers that were killing Yami Malik, and in turn the innocent Malik, and forcing all the open doors inside the Puzzle closed he had collapsed again. This time his vision was normal if he could bother to try opening his eyes again. His clothes smoked and his entire body ached but he was barely aware of that.

He felt a nudging at the end of his bond with his Hikari, like someone shoving at a partially blocked door. He temporarily ceased his internal mantra to welcome Yugi's presence into his mind. The feeling of relief was overwhelming, and he in turn felt a knot relax dramatically at knowing that his Hikari was alive.

''''

"Bakura, no! Leave him alone!"

Ryou was struggling and failing to restrain the suddenly-energized Bakura from getting up and approaching Malik's still body, at least without grabbing at his other arm that was still grotesquely twisted. Not that the Ring spirit seemed to be even aware of the pain in his jagged bones and frayed nerves as he jerked in Ryou's grip, finally twisting about and pushing his Hikari away from him by way of a boot in the chest.

He was closer to Malik than Joey, who was running full pelt towards him in an obvious attempt to intercept him, and within seconds Bakura was squatted by the Rod still in Malik's hand and wrapped his fingers about its handle. Casting his eyes up along the apparently undamaged form, he found himself meeting large frightened eyes. An icy jab stabbed the pit of his stomach but he tore the Rod away anyway, ignoring the bright flare of pain in the other's gaze and the sound of burnt flesh tearing. He saw beyond it all to Yami Malik who he knew was still alive. Still a threat. Still a living part of his unfortunate past. Still there to be destroyed. He was almost glad that Yami had chickened out.

There were multiple shouts of protest from around him and in his peripheral vision he could see Joey and Ryou converging on him. It was too far gone though; the bubbling rage and calm clarity in his mind. Without hesitation he tightened his grip on the Rod until it became painful and swung it up and down in a smooth arc, directly into the side of Malik's skull.

Joey and Ryou both skidded to a stop. They knew that to continue was pointless. Malik was dead and to violate Bakura's space now was only to risk the same fate.

One of the twin blades had been facing sideways just as was intended, and Bakura pulled the Rod away again, shivering with the adrenaline as he surveyed the damage. Malik's eyes were still open, still bright, but there was no life in them now. It didn't feel enough though, perhaps because it had been too swift and simple, perhaps because this victory had already been earned before he took up the Rod. The thief wasn't going to allow that to further hollow this moment for him though. He had desired it for too long, needed it just as badly and knew that there had to be more to release than this. More to finally ending the internal ache.

His throat convulsed as he raised the Millennium Rod again, his weight dropping forward onto his knees, a stingingly bitter taste bubbling up under his tongue and the muscles in his jaw straining at the spasms. His eyes were wide and fixed, unwavering, on the dead face and he barely acknowledged the hard repetitive actions of his arm. The blood he saw and the sounds he heard, but none of it struck that cord the way he had wanted, had expected. None of the gore scratched that itch.

Joey and Ryou watched in a silent vigil as Anzu cried against Tristen and he kept going until the adrenaline wore off and he was re-engulfed in a world of pain. Broken arm throbbing and head pounding, he glanced coolly towards Ryou before rising unsteadily to his feet and flinging the Rod to skid to a rest at his toes. Taking a final surveying look across the body he now stood over, the destroyed face and blood-sticky sand clinging to its remains, Bakura turned on his heel and stalked towards the perimeter fence, raising every shield in his possession against his Hikari within a moment.

Ryou deliberately watched him leave simply so as not to see Malik. When Bakura ducked through the gap in the fence and out of sight, he turned back to Joey and then looked across the site to where Yugi was picking himself up, a hand to his cheek as he did so. Seeing that Yami was still sprawled several floors up, he ran with Joey first to help Yugi up and then towards the stairs that Yami Malik had originally been going for.

Single-mindedness was not required to force aside Malik's gruesome death for the time being. Indeed, anything was a welcome relief from fixating on those bloody moments and the sick feeling now that the events had passed. The coroners could take care of him. Yami's condition was paramount now though, particularly as he continued to lie utterly still as they all steadily made their way up through the heavily damaged building.

''''

Yami couldn't be sure if he had lost consciousness in the last few minutes but he certainly felt as if he were rousing from such a state, his mind feeling detached and slow. His muscles lax and aching, he attempted to fidget off of the bolts that were digging into his flesh with a biting pain. When his foot dropped off the edge of the floor his heart felt as if it had jumped into his throat and he decided that it was probably best if he just lay still.

His eyes didn't hurt as he had expected them to when he opened them, staring up through the building's skeleton and smiling when he saw no sign of Yami Malik. He knew that he had at least severely hurt the other spirit, no doubt enough so that he could never form enough to possess Malik again. It had taken his last mental reserves to pull that massive swell of power off of him but the urge not to kill, to not sink as low as Yami Malik had given him no alternative but to succeed. If he had burnt him from the inside out as that energy was so close to doing his victory would have been hollow. Yami knew that he could find no peace in Malik's unprovoked death by his own actions. It hadn't come to that though. Yugi was safe, Yami Malik was gone and Bakura was alive. ****

Smiling thinly in relief and satisfaction, he closed his eyes again as he heard footsteps coming up the metal stairs behind him, Yugi's presence feeling closer in his mind. Yami chose not to open the link whilst his head felt like this, knowing from past experience that it tended to only confuse him more.

The breeze caught at his hair and a clump whipped across his face. Yami mustered the energy to catch at it and twined the strands between his fingers about his eyes, his brows drawing together in confusion and bemusement. They were as white as Bakura's hair and he knew without looking that all of his hair had been bleached out, no doubt by that last onslaught. Releasing the strands as he heard Yugi coming closer, he found a short laugh escaping him as he thought on the Tomb Robber, his words just as quiet afterwards.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this."

''''

Well the series is finally winding down to a close. Please review and let me know what you think of this after such a long break.


	14. Chapter 14

So, this is a good few years overdue, I know... I'm really grateful to anyone still interested in this series, and once again I'm really sorry it took me so long to finish this piece. I got bogged down with work and uni, and then when I wrote it I wasn't happy with the quality (still not, really, but I think this is the best it's ever going to be), and it was really hard to commit to how this chapter was going to be.

But, it's finally here and just before Christmas too, so that's kinda nice.

I hope everyone enjoys this and finds it a satisfying ending for this very long and rather windy series. Thank you again for reading, and particularly those who have spent a few minutes reviewing. It means a lot to me.

Borath

Domination: Chapter 14

To say it had been a trying year would have been a vast understatement, and that it was almost a marvel that they had come through it more of less intact was another. Damage control had been an arduous but necessary task following Malik's innocent but altogether necessary death, and although in grief, Isis and had been understanding if reserved. Yami had tried to spend some time with her, feeling responsible for leaving her effectively alone now that her brother had followed after Rishid's recent death. They had quietly and awkwardly decided that that was probably the main trigger for Yami Malik's violent and obsessive return. The funeral for Malik had been a quiet and intensely personal affair. Yami had felt incredibly awkward being there, and the Pharaoh tried not to speculate on how Bakura was as the thief observed from a substantial distance.

Malik's death during that final confrontation was something that wasn't really discussed, with a strong sense between them all that now was the time and opportunity to move on. And move on they had, with the bonds of friendship re-established through shared adversity and after seeing one put into the ground, Yami had internally resolved to bring himself back to better health. It had been a choice between rebuilding or allowing himself to completely collapse, in his mind, and weeks later he felt he had chosen right.

"I can't believe you're actually doing this." Yugi's broad grin echoed in his words.

It had turned out that they could fit quite a few people into the tiny bathroom of the Mutou house, but he'd managed to stake a good spot on the edge of the bath next to the sink where Yami was 'working'. Ryou was sat behind Yugi, stifling giggles with his hand, and Bakura loitered in the doorway appearing rather bemused. Sugoroku had Joey drifting around with boxes to keep him out of Yami's hair. The eldest Mutou had attempted this with everyone briefly, but Joey was the only one still stuck in the shop under the man's watchful gaze. Everything this morning seemed to be revolving around Yami's hair, and the spirit was not entirely happy with the attention.

Staring at his reflection in the mirror whilst leaning over the sink, Yami was carefully separating his hair into sections and tying them with bands. With it in heavy white bunches, he was hardly recognizable, and the grey irises where there was once crimson didn't help matters. He'd already thrown a shampoo bottle and the soap, albeit playfully, at Bakura for the insinuations about how stupid he looked.

Sighing, Yami looked bemusedly at Yugi's reflection in the mirror, not quite believing he was doing this either. "It's not like I have a lot of choice. I've been in and out of my soul room and it hasn't done anything. It's been over a month now. It just wants to stay white, and I refuse to spend the rest of my existence looking like one of Bakura's 'groupies'."

Said white haired spirit laughed and crossed his arms, leaning casually into the doorframe. "I won't take that as the insult it was doubtlessly intended as. Won't it grow back in its normal colours eventually?"

Growling in frustration, Yami kept his back to them both and indicated violently to his scalp. "Even the roots are white." He waved his hand erratically in the air for a moment, trying to voice his disgust and shock. "Still!"

Yugi coughed loudly and brought his head down, putting his fists firmly into his cheeks. Yami had become outright obsessed with his hair recently, particularly after Joey had commented that it could just be that he was old now, and to be thankful he wasn't bald.

Joey reappeared in the doorway, slipping past Bakura without a glance and clapping a hand on Yugi_'s_ and Ryou's shoulders. "Right. Grandpa says you guys have gotta come help out downstairs. Leave Yami to it with the hair stuff." He sounded breathless, and Ryou squirmed a bit as the sweat from his palm finally reached through his shirt to his skin.

"What about Bakura?" Yugi asked, standing obediently all the same. He gave Yami an apologetic look through the mirror to which he merely smiled with a raised eyebrow. The both knew how Sugoroku could be, and how it was always best to do as they were told.

Bakura looked to Joey, marginally interested to know why he'd been let off whatever manual labour everyone was getting roped into. Joey put his hands to his head briefly before dropping them back to his sides after catching wind of his underarms. "Well I did ask about that, but the whole Tomb Robber Thief thing came up an' that was kinda the end of it."

Bakura nodded smugly, moving away from the doorway and advancing on Yami's back. "You see? You work hard at getting a solid reputation, and it'll stick with you for life. Isn't that right Yami? You're working on being a stick insect with stupid hair, and it'll stick with you for life."

Ryou and Yugi chose this moment to duck out of the bathroom, Joey rapidly in tow and pulling the door shut behind him. Bakura, now at Yami's shoulder, folded his arms again and looked down into the sink. He was glad to see only a few errant hairs when he had been expecting quite a few. The energy surge that Yami had summoned up had done a lot of exhausting damage, some of it apparently permanent.

Yami appeared unfazed by Bakura's comment, mixing up the first dye in the solution bottle, watching the vibrant yellow slosh around. He'd hoped it wouldn't come to this but it appeared that the bleaching had been utterly permanent and he'd have to do this every few months. He was privately contemplating a change rather than working with the same three colours next time, but felt that in some strange way sharing such a striking similarity in appearance created a further kinship with his aibou. It was a silly notion, but one he found difficult to let go off all the same.

"Grandpa just wanted us to have a chance to talk, didn't he?" he asked finally, not taking his eyes off of his task. Bakura nodded unseen and began picking idly at his nails.

"Yeah. Ryou and Yugi got that too. Just the blond who missed it, but then we have to be forgiving of such cases. Charitable thing to do and all that." Bakura knew he was rambling and hated it. There was a strange knot of nervousness in his gut that he wasn't fond of, and he couldn't quite place its cause.

So much had happened in the last few months, so much that had brought him closer into the group, closer than he ever thought he would be. It hadn't occurred to him whilst he was spending so much time with Yami that it could happen, and he wasn't sure if he'd have resisted it even if he had. The saps had grown on him a bit, like Ryou had at some point.

Lately however, after Malik's death and when everything had quietened down again, Bakura had found himself filled with a distinct sense of unease. His act of revenge hadn't fulfilled a private part of his soul as he hoped it would have, and Yami didn't seem to be relying on him as much anymore. It was almost as if he wasn't needed. Not that he'd ever voice such feelings. He hadn't been needed before all this, so it shouldn't be difficult to go back to that blissfully uncluttered state. He was still wary of it though.

He and Yami hadn't had a chance to really talk in the last few weeks. Ryou had wrangled him into helping to explain what had happened to Isis and helping to arrange the funeral. There had been a few white lies and some unspoken information, but Isis was still remarkably forgiving through her grief. She had known that her brother's dark side could bring about this fate, but wished it hadn't had to have involved a fight to the death with the Pharaoh. The forgiveness in her voice hadn't helped Bakura's feelings either. He wasn't expecting it and he certainly wasn't used to it.

There was no regret in him over Malik's death. He knew that Yami had stopped short of actually killing Yami Malik because that would have made him into something he wasn't, would have made him something like the psychotic monster, if not worse. Bakura, however, had never had any reservations about his nature, and knew that he was worse in terms of morality because he had craved that moment, that lethal strike for years. It was that deep yearning that had ended up punishing though, by building it up so much that the actual event became hollow; an empty victory. It was a feeling he had never anticipated.

There had been a very long period of silence between them now as Bakura became lost in his own thoughts, but Yami saw no reason to break it. He had enough sense to hazard a guess at the turmoil the other spirit must have been feeling recently. It was also a pitfall of their relationship that after so many intense discussions and frankness with each other, having a long period away from each other made it rather difficult to get talking again. He'd managed to get partway through dying and wrapping several clumps of hair in foil now, and his sand timer was running for them. He didn't like clocks at all, and Yugi had gotten him this half-hour timer last Christmas.

It was Bakura who spoke first in the end, gesturing a little as he did. His habit of talking with his hands was apparently becoming unnoticed by him. "So, how's the diet going?"

"Well, I believe." No longer plagued by worry and with his nightmares settling down, as well as his general feelings of depression and anxiety, Yami had managed to start eating more than the occasional bowl of soup. Part of that had been in making dinner a more informal gathering with food rather than an actual meal, so Yami didn't feel the same pressure to eat that he used to. He was actually feeling hungry again as well, his body demanding nutrients as it replenished and repaired itself.

"Anzu sent a good nutrition book last week and Honda left a fruit basket with a card in the Game Shop. I think they're tokens of peace."

Bakura ceased from examining Yami's torso and elbows, looking to the spirit's face with interest. Yami had a nasty habit of diluting his words when it came to his friends, but he could spot it most of the time. "Are you going to accept?"

Catching Bakura's intense gaze in his peripheral vision, Yami lowered the black dye bottle and turned to face him for the first time. "Quite honestly, I just want to forget about everything that's happened recently. The bad at least. A strange amount of good has come out, and I'm grateful, but I want to start again. With all my friends." He sounded tired again, and he could feel his shoulders dropping as he spoke. "They were being honest, and blunt, which is what you've done for me. The actual words were the only problem, and I can forgive words." A sigh, then he continued to apply the dye. "I just don't know how I'm going to apologise to them. I threw them out quite brutally."

Bakura frowned at that, not quite seeing why it was an issue. He had initially advise Yami to apologise to them, but since speaking to Joey about the heated exchange he had come to find that a less pressing thing. "You were angry, and you had every right to be. Don't go apologising for your behaviour, especially now when things are just about all done and dusted. Accept their apology, say thank you, and see where you go from there."

Yami smiled thinly. "I can't quite believe I'm getting advice on friendship from you," he murmured, to which Bakura grinned.

Rubbing absently at his elbow, Bakura ran his fingertips back and forth across the broad scar he now bore. He didn't mind it too much, and was proud of it in a way. Bludgeoning someone with a broken arm apparently made said breakage worse, he had discovered. He also now knew what it felt like to have the bone almost emerge from the skin. Quite disconcerting, although he had recovered quickly. There was also some satisfaction for him to find in having a scar from that incredibly memorable day. Yami had scars now too, but none of them were bright and new. In fact they were faded considerably and, at this rate, would be quite difficult to see in a matter of weeks.

He shook his head to take his mind from such thoughts before he ended up spiralling into them and wasting this time he had to talk to Yami properly, without a deadline by which he had to leave or people lurking about. The spirit's head was now almost completely covered in tinfoil, and looked father ridiculous. "Very shiny," he commented at last. "How long until we see the final results?"

With a triumphant smile now that he was done with the laborious bit, Yami flipped the sand timer over. "Half an hour. Now all there is to do is wait."

Bakura clapped his hands together and lent back against the wall. "Great. So what shall we talk about?"

'''''''

Yugi found it strange to be in Yami's room again. It had been redecorated a few days ago and the smell of paint and carpet still lingered. The window had been replaced and some of the furniture was different too. It still felt familiar though, and somewhat safe, which was perhaps why Yugi found it so difficult to accept. It had been a site of disaster and horror only a few weeks ago, and to have it back as something safe and comfortable was a little disconcerting after such a long period of having it 'off-limits'. He wondered if Yami was finding it difficult to sleep in here. If he was, he hadn't mentioned it.

Ryou stood at his side but having glanced about the room he was no longer looking at it. His attention was instead focussed on the envelope in Yugi's hands. It was plain and slim, but foreboding also.

Sugoroku had made the wise decision of having the hospital send Yami's test results to the house rather than putting the anxious spirit through the torment of taking him back in person. Yami had come to despise hospitals and wanted little more to do with them if he could help it. Quietly, Sugoroku also felt that it would be easier if Yami was at home if the results were not what they had hoped for.

Tapping the envelope into his palm, Yugi looked to Ryou with wide eyes. "I know we shouldn't, but I really want to open it. I need to know."

The other teen smiled sympathetically, placing a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "I understand, but this is addressed to Yami and Yami should be the one to open it. They should be finished in the bathroom soon, and I'm certain it's good news anyway."

Yugi nodded. "Yeah. You're probably right. Thanks Ryou."

As predicted, the spirits emerged from the steaming bathroom moments later, Yami's newly coloured hair damp and tousled, and Bakura appearing impressed with the results. It wasn't perfect: the yellow wasn't as bright as before, and the red was nowhere near as even as it once was, but Yami looked far more like his old self. Yugi had also just about gotten used to the spirit's 'creepy' eyes, which were here to stay unless they could find affordable coloured lenses.

"What's that, aibou?" Yami asked of the envelope as he stepped into the room, taking note of the nervousness the teens both seemed to be suffering, particularly Yugi.

Yugi extended the envelope to him and watched as Yami took it and began to open it. "It's your test results from the hospital. They got here a few minutes ago."

Yami frowned a little in confusion, keen to get at the contents now although there was a stab of worry in his stomach. Bakura stepped close to him, as if his proximity could offer support. "I thought I would have to go in to receive them?"

"Apparently not," Yugi said quickly, not wanting Yami to know quite how much involvement Sugoroku had had behind the scenes recently. He was certain that Yami wouldn't be offended by it, but he saw it best not to overcomplicate things with questions and explanations right now.

Finally Yami produced the single sheet of paper and unfolded it hastily. He had blocked Yugi mentally just in case, although he could feel his hikari still trying to gain access. Bakura finished reading before he did and clapped a firm hand across Yami's back with a laugh, wandering out of the room afterwards to pass on the news. He was all clear. The relief made his knees feel weak, but he still couldn't hold back a grin as he passed the paper to Yugi.

Dropping down on the edge of his bed, Yami barked a laugh as he heard Joey 'whooping' from downstairs. Absently picking up Mog, he twisted the worn ear for a few moments out of habit before regarding the gift. He felt he could return this to Kaiba now, feeling he'd come well past the point of needing such a comforter. He'd do that later on his own, and thank the man again for his support. He was certain it might be difficult for Kaiba to hear and accept, but he felt immensely grateful for everything that had been done for him and wanted to express that.

Putting the worn stuffed animal down, he welcomed the hug that Yugi gave him before standing. He didn't know quite what to say. These results had been the last thing that was really worrying him, and now he could go back to rebuilding some relationships and then everything would be back to normal. He wouldn't be back duelling tomorrow, but sometime soon. He felt more confident of that than anytime in the last few months.

"Congratulations Yami," Ryou said softly, smiling as he did. "There's some more post for you downstairs though, if you'd like to go look."

Curious, Yami made his way out of the room and downstairs. Ryou and Yugi followed, beaming, the letter still in Yugi's hands to show Sugoroku. They found Joey, Bakura and Sugoroku inside the kitchen, barely visible around multiple woven sacks of letters and parcels. There were several opened letters stacked on the one remaining bit of space on the table. Joey held one out to Yami.

As the spirit read, Sugoroku came to his side. "When he found out what had happened with Yami Malik, Pegasus delayed sending you this until I called him with a better time. It took a long time to get them all out of the van, I can tell you! And from what I can tell, they're all like that letter you're holding."

Yami wasn't one to get misty eyed, but this certainly got him close. Handing the letter to Yugi, he picked up another envelope from the closest sack. This one was pink and smelt vaguely of perfume. It's message was similar; wishing him luck and saying that the duelling world missed him and hoped to see him back soon.

Glancing around the room at the smiling faces, and taking stock of the faces who weren't present but perhaps should have been, Yami consideredthe moment. With this kind of support, with this family and extended family, he knew he was going to be fine.

The End

(Really. I actually mean it this time.)

Bit of a corny ending, I know, but I've been so damn mean to the characters it kinda felt right to have a sappy bit to finish things off.

I'd really appreciate feedback, good or bad, and certainly constructive criticism in general. Thanks again for sticking with me through this.


End file.
